WCC School Accessibility Programme (SASI)

Brief

Wellington City Council needed a defensible, city-wide way to make the journey to school safer — across all 81 schools, with limited budget and a need to show why each intervention was prioritised the way it was.

What we did

TTAP has run the programme as a staged pipeline since 2024: a desktop prioritisation of all 81 schools (built on NZTA Crash Analysis System data and operating-speed data, presented through a Power BI dashboard), then site audits at the higher-risk schools, then optioneering and a shortlist, and finally crossing, signage and traffic-calming design for the schools that warranted it. A December 2025 sensitivity test on refreshed crash and speed data re-graded several schools and drove the next design package. The programme runs with a joint communications and engagement plan with the Council.

Two street photographs of crossing treatments assessed in the programme — a red-surfaced courtesy crossing, and a raised pedestrian platform with tactile paving across a side road. — Crossing treatments assessed on site: courtesy crossings and raised pedestrian platforms, each rated against the risk framework before it was recommended.

Footpath assessment photographs — the through route, street furniture and frontage zones marked on two footpath scenes, with a before-and-after pair showing a narrow footpath widened and resurfaced beneath a rail overbridge. — Footpath zones are measured, not eyeballed — through route, street furniture and frontage — and the before/after shows what a widening actually buys a walking route.

Outcome

A repeatable desktop-to-design methodology that lets the Council prioritise school-safety investment across the whole city on the evidence — and take each intervention from a defensible risk ranking through to a buildable design.