Dunedin Regional Office
Media Release

30 June 2004

Safety key aspect of Transit’s 10-year plan for Otago

The start of construction of the Tumai to Waikouaiti Realignment project on SH1 north of Dunedin and 15 other rural realignments, bridge improvements and safety improvements are the major features of Transit New Zealand’s 10-Year State Highway Plan 2004/05-2013/14 for Otago, released today.
Transit regional manager Mike O’Cain said construction of the $4 million Tumai to Waikouaiti Realignment would begin in the 2004/05 financial year. The 3.4-kilometre realignment will improve safety on a substandard section of SH1 between Oamaru and Dunedin. The plan also includes a range of rural realignments and other safety improvements for construction in the next three years, as well as provision of a network of stock truck effluent disposal sites and improved walking and cycling facilities.

Mr O’Cain said ongoing remedial work on the Nevis Bluff in the Kawarau Gorge is required to improve route security. This work will cost about $1.5 million over the next three years.

On SH1 both north and south of Dunedin there is a strategy to complete 11 passing lanes to improve route security. Recently completed passing lanes include: Patmos Southbound Passing Lane and the Four Mile Creek Southbound Passing Lane. Progress is being made on:

• SH6: Waitiri Eastbound Passing Lane
• SH1: Waihola Northbound Passing Lane
• SH1: Lake Road Northbound Passing Lane
• SH1: West Road Northbound Passing Lane
• SH1: Mill House Southbound Passing Lane
• SH1: Brydone Memorial Northbound Passing Lane
• SH1: Clarendon Realignment and Southbound Passing Lane
• SH1: Findlay’s Road Northbound Passing Lane.

In the urban areas, Transit is working with the Dunedin City Council to identify a long-term strategy for the arterial corridor through Dunedin city.

“We’re also working on what can be done to improve pedestrian safety where SH1 passes through the university area and we’re looking at a four-lane bypass of Caversham. This is an important project to secure a safe and efficient route exiting Dunedin to the south where current forecasts for significant traffic growth need to be aligned with road improvement plans,” Mr O’Cain said.

Improvements to SH1 between Orwell Street and Coquet Street, Oamaru are being planned in consultation with the Waitaki District Council. In Queenstown, Transit is working with the Queenstown Lakes District Council to develop a long-term solution for the rapidly growing demand on SH6A between Frankton and Queenstown, Mr O’Cain said.

Large projects (construction cost over $3 million) have been planned over 10 years while small and medium-sized projects (construction cost less than $3 million) have been planned over three years. Transit will spend a total of at least $79 million on state highway improvement projects and a further $254 million on maintenance in the Otago region in the next 10 years. In 2004/05, $9.1 million will be spent on capital improvements and $20.4 million on maintenance.

“Some of the projects outlined in the plan may be built faster and others added with additional funding we anticipate from a share of the regional distribution funding resulting from the Government’s December 2003 funding package, ‘Investing in Growth’ raised through an increase in petrol tax,” Mr O’Cain said.

Consultation played an important role in the development of the plan within the context of the new Land Transport Management Act (passed in November 2003), Mr O’Cain said, with all large project proposals reviewed to ensure integrated solutions that fitted with Otago’s local authority plans and that the benefits of the plans were sustainable.
Major features of the Otago 10-year plan are:

• Tumai to Waikouaiti Realignment on SH1, north of Dunedin, for a construction start in 2004/05
• 15 other rural realignments, bridge improvements and other safety improvements, for construction in the next three years
• eight more passing lanes on SH1, north and south of Dunedin, and on SH6 for construction in the next three years
• extensive remedial work on the Nevis Bluff on SH6, undertaken in the next three years
• three stock effluent disposal facilities, one at Raes Junction on SH90, and two at sites on SH8 and SH85, for which the most suitable locations are yet to be decided.

…ends/

Further information is available at www.transit.govt.nz.
Detailed maps and timing of projects are listed by region.

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