Linwood Ave – apologies for unexpected delays

SCIRT’s plans to narrow part of Linwood Ave on the city side of the Eastgate intersection (at Buckleys/ Aldwins Roads) caused delays for motorists this morning.

As well as narrowing the eastbound lanes of Linwood Ave, the west bound (city bound) side was also narrowed to one lane, causing backups on the Dyers Road/ Bromley side of the Eastgate intersection. That city-bound narrowing has now been reversed which will ease the situationtomorrow morning.

SCIRT apologises to motorists who had no warning of the restriction, with electronic signage only visible on one side of the intersection and no delays advertised through SCIRT’s usual media channels.

Please avoid Linwood Ave in the afternoon peaks if you can
However, the evening peak today and in coming days heading towards Bromley/ Sumner past Eastgate will still be significant as Linwood Ave – normally three lanes at Aldwins / Buckleys intersection – is down to one lane in this direction.

This will create delays particularly for the evening peaks for at least a week or a fortnight.

Thanks to the Christchurch Transport Operations Centre for its media updates and to all the media outlets and radio stations which ran the warnings to drivers. Drivers are encouraged to stagger their home times down Linwood Ave or take a different route if possible. The Dyers Road ring route to Linwood Ave is one option (although this was also affected by this morning’s congestion), Port Hills Road and Ferry Road may be others.

Errors regretted
The errors this morning have been followed up by traffic managers and SCIRT’s Fletcher team. More electronic signs are going up today and in coming days to encourage drivers to avoid Linwood Ave at peak evening hours and also potentially to detour drivers at some key intersections closer to the Avon River.

This is the work notice for this project. The aim is to ease up the lanes available at the intersection within as short a time as possible. Once the crew has dug the initial trench they will have a better idea of ground conditions which will affect the time needed. Work will be taking place this Saturday as well as week days. http://strongerchristchurch.govt.nz/work/activity/5799

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