Call to tackle busy intersection sooner

Mosgiel-Taieri community board chairman Bill Feather reflects as traffic builds up again, at the...
Mosgiel-Taieri community board chairman Bill Feather reflects as traffic builds up again, at the intersection involving Quarry Rd, Gordon Rd and Gladstone Rds, north and south, in Mosgiel. Photo by Linda Robertson.

Mosgiel community representative Bill Feather warns there is no room for complacency about traffic congestion affecting a key intersection leading into the town.

Much quicker action is needed to counter the problems, he says.

These include traffic queues a block or more long at peak times, and drivers trying to turn from side streets sometimes missing several phases of lights.

Proposed strategic roading plans for the area did not envisage any physical work being done at the intersection over the next six years to improve worsening traffic congestion, he said.

And some drivers, particularly people approaching from nearby side streets, including Hagart-Alexander Drive, were already facing delays, ''grave difficulties'', and sometimes high stress levels at peak times.

Mr Feather said the intersection faced heavy pressures several times a day, including between 8am and 9am, about 3pm when parents arrived by car to pick up children from the nearby East Taieri School, and about 5pm.

Given continuing strong population growth and active house-building in Mosgiel, and the growing use of heavy trucks, there was a risk that in three or six years the area might appear less attractive to potential new residents, as the traffic congestion intensified, he said.

''It starts slowing everything down, and movement of freight is not as efficient as it should be.''

Potential safety risks were likely to increase as congestion pressures increased, he said.

Mr Feather, who chairs the Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board, made a submission last week about safety issues involving Gordon Rd, at a Dunedin hearing involving the draft Otago Southland regional land transport plans.

He highlighted traffic problems involving the first set of traffic lights in Gordon Rd, which included the intersection of Quarry Rd, Gordon Rd, Gladstone Rd North and Gladstone Rd South.

Mr Feather said he had been given a good hearing at the draft regional transport plan hearing and was hopeful his message had been heard.

Nevertheless he felt ''an element of frustration'', given the community board's role was to ''advocate for the community''.

Many people in the community who were in touch with him could already see the problems with the intersection getting much worse in coming years.

There were also concerns about the need to deal with traffic congestion elsewhere in Gordon Rd, including pressures involving heavy truck use.

In the draft plans, Dunedin City Council funding amounting to more than $700,000 is earmarked for detailed planning involving Mosgiel town centre safety and accessibility upgrades (more than $500,000, starting in 2017-18), and for a strategic cycle network for Mosgiel ($250,000 in 2020-21).

Mr Feather fully appreciated the plans had clearly highlighted the need for transport safety improvements for Mosgiel, including for cyclists.

But he was concerned no physical work to improve the key and ''very complex'' traffic intersection in Gordon Rd was envisaged in the plans, for the next six years.

The cycling plans also needed to be brought forward.

Mosgiel's population was continuing to grow strongly, reaching 12,618, including Wingatui, in the 2013 Census.

This was up 13% since 2001, and the number of residential dwellings had also grown 18% in the time.

The board's submission noted that Gordon Rd, which is also SH87, was ''a pivotal corridor'' for traffic moving to and from Mosgiel and its surrounds.

New residential subdivisions to the north and east of Mosgiel were filling rapidly, intensifying pressure at the rail crossing, a ''pressure point'' on SH87.

The board urged the panel to give ''strong weight to our growing community's needs'' and ''deliver much earlier a safer transport corridor and strategic cycle network'' for the community.

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