Riccarton Road bus priority gets the go-ahead

The Christchurch City Council today gave the green light to bus priority measures on Riccarton Road from the Deans Avenue intersection to central Riccarton.

“I’m very pleased that we have achieved another major step to cut traffic congestion and increase pedestrian safety and access along this extremely busy road”, says Cr Phil Clearwater. “Bus priority is a key factor in our long-term plans for the road network. Our aim is to reduce bus journey times and get passengers to their destinations on time. These measures will also improve the look and feel of central Riccarton”, he says.

Cr Clearwater is the Chair of the Infrastructure, Transport and Environment committee that approved the bus priority measures.

Environment Canterbury’s director operations Wayne Holton-Jeffreys has welcomed the decision, saying bus priority measures including bus lanes and special traffic signals would help the whole network flow more effectively by reducing congestion and improving traffic flow, ultimately leading to more reliable travel times.

Cr Clearwater expects construction to start in late January or February 2016.

“The first stage will be installing traffic signals at the Deans Avenue / Riccarton Avenue / Riccarton Road roundabout,” says Cr Clearwater. “We will start after Christmas because we know that’s an important period for retailers and we want to prevent disruption to trade as much as possible.”

After considering mostly supportive feedback in the 232 submissions, the Council committee approved the recommended measures along three sections of Riccarton Road:

• Deans Avenue / Riccarton Avenue / Riccarton Road intersection

• Riccarton Road from the Deans Avenue intersection to the Clarence Street / Straven Road intersection

• Clarence Street intersection to Matipo Street.

Among the extensive measures are:

Deans Avenue / Riccarton Avenue / Riccarton Road intersection

• Traffic signals with full time bus lanes on the east and west approaches

• Pedestrian and cycle crossings

• Part time bus lanes

Riccarton Road from Deans Avenue intersection to Clarence Street / Riccarton Road / Straven Road intersection

• New stopping and parking restrictions

• Traffic signals and median islands at the intersection.

Central Riccarton Road from Clarence to Matipo Streets

• Median islands for pedestrian safety

• Cycle and bus lanes

• 65 off-street car parks with new P120 time limits between Rimu Street and Straven Road

• New parking and stopping restrictions along some stretches

• Overall total number of car parks proposed with restrictions will be more than the current number of on street car parks to be removed.

The measures also include removing a number of trees and new tree plantings.

Useful links

For the detailed measures and maps of the scheme, go to:

Riccarton Road bus priority project - Item 5 of agenda - Infrastructure Transport and Environment Committee (6 August 2015)

Environment Canterbury

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