NZTA

Accusations the New Zealand Transport Agency did not provide sufficient information to residents of Short St about a proposal to close access to Dunedin's Southern Motorway were rejected at a hearing yesterday.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council will recommend the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) continue design development for a new two-lane, two-way bridge at Kawarau Falls, but acknowledge a possible need to adopt a "cheaper bridge type" at its meeting on Tuesday.

For pupils at Sawyers Bay School, being named runner-up in a New Zealand film-making competition was a double take.

Electronic signs are to be installed on State Highway 1 near Palmerston, to advise motorists of winter road conditions.

The habitat of a rare killer worm living in bush-covered reserves through the Caversham Valley is the subject of land purchase negotiations between the New Zealand Transport Agency and the Dunedin City Council.

Submissions from as afar afield as Costa Rica and Germany have been made to the Dunedin City Council to protect the habitat of a killer worm that lives beside the Caversham Highway.

Queenstown taxi and bus companies will have their vehicles inspected this week as part of a national safety and compliance operation taking place before the start of the Rugby World Cup.

Highway maintenance budgets are being "stretched" in Otago and Southland as contractors have to keep clearing roads in the wake of two severe snowstorms this winter.

Rural local authorities are weighing up their roading costs after the recent polar blast as they consider applications for emergency funds from the New Zealand Transport Agency to assist with clean-up operations.

Motorists using the Caversham bypass will face a disruption to their evening travel next Thursday, when contractors close the northbound lane to remove a pedestrian overbridge across State Highway 1.