Portobello Road Service Lane Redesign

Dunedin (Tuesday, 2 February 2016) – The layout of the planned redesign of Portobello Road between Portsmouth Drive and Timaru Street has been altered to address safety concerns with the service lane at the western end of the road.

In March 2015, affected residents, property owners and businesses on Portobello Road were informed of the planned redesign of the roadway between Portsmouth Drive and Timaru Street. Changes will include one traffic lane in each direction separated by a flush median strip to enable turning in and out of industrial premises, landscaping for the full road length, vegetation clearance to provide a 1.2m footpath on the east side, resurfacing of the cycleway and footpath on the east side, and removal of the concrete median.

DCC Network Development and Operations Manager Michael Harrison says, "At the time, the redesign did not affect the road layout of properties alongside the service lane at the western end of Portobello Road. Since then, a routine safety audit has highlighted concerns about the redesign’s effect on the service lane."

The safety audit noted the following risks:

•Vehicles exiting the service lane would be required to merge with westbound traffic on Portobello Road. Give way signs close to the Timaru Street intersection could make it unclear who has to give way.

•A rubbish truck doing a U turn into the service lane would need to veer left to give it room to turn. This is a safety issue for following vehicles.

•In the current redesign, cyclists crossing Portobello Road to the east of the BP station would need to stop within the cycleway itself before proceeding to the mid-road crossing point. Stopping within the cycleway may block the path of cyclists continuing on the cycleway.

Mr Harrison says that to address these safety risks, a new design has been prepared for the section of Portobello Road adjacent to the service lane. Affected residents, property owners, businesses and stakeholders have been informed and supplied with copies of the new design.

This new design will have the following key effects:

1.There will no longer be a service lane outside the affected properties.

2.More on-street parking will be available. There will be formalised parking outside two properties where there is currently parking on the footpath.

3.There will be a new shared pedestrian/cyclist path outside the properties which residents will be required to give way to when entering and exiting garages and driveways, and be aware of when stepping out on foot.

4.Residents exiting their driveway will now be able to turn in either direction onto Portobello Road, whereas now they can only turn west.

5.There will be two new landscaped strips. One will be right outside residents’ houses, planted with grass, low shrubs and kowhai trees. The other will be a grass verge on the other side of the shared path this is where residents will need to put their wheelie bins.

6.On-street parking will lie 5.5m further from the front boundary of the affected properties than it does now.

7.There will be a new pocket park opposite the Timaru St intersection.

Mr Harrison says vehicle access to the properties along the service lane will be maintained.

Work on the new Portobello Road layout between Portsmouth Drive and Timaru Street is expected to start in the next couple of months.

ENDS

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