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A Canterbury council's gamble on bringing forward a $4.7 million roundabout project has paid off, with NZTA agreeing to fund 51% of the project.
Selwyn District Council brought the Springston-Rolleston Road and Selwyn Road project back into this year’s programme in the hopes of securing NZTA co-funding at the end of the three-year funding cycle.
Selwyn Mayor Lydia Gliddon was pleased the gamble paid off and confirmed NZTA has agreed to fund the construction.
NZTA’s 51% contribution will reduce the amount the council needs to borrow, along with the council using $967,729 of development contributions.
A roundabout was identified as the preferred option to improve the intersection following previous NZ Transport Agency Road to Zero safety reviews and planning for the Selwyn Road arterial corridor.
The project had been deferred from the 2026/27 annual plan, but with the council anticipating that NZTA would have money available at the end of a three-year land transport program from unfinished projects elsewhere, they brought it forward in September.
Head of capital works David Spriggs said a roundabout was preferred over lights because around 80% of crashes at the intersection were "people turning right or turning left".
"When you got traffic signals, they very rarely address those types of crashes to any great degree.
"If we put traffic signals in now, there's every likelihood we would be here every year talking about how we've spent a whole lot of money and haven't improved the safety record of that intersection."
He said a roundabout forces drivers to slow down as they approach the intersection "because you can see you can't drive straight through" and focuses the driver's attention on vehicles coming from their right, helping to reduce crashes involving turning movements.
Gliddon said the project is much more complex than plonking a roundabout on top of the road.
“It's not necessarily just some pavers and asphalt then some paint on the road.”
Infrastructure and property executive director Tim Mason said that due to the location of the roundabout, “because of the space and surrounding infrastructure, we need to realign the road”.
“We will also be doing the new road layout and pavements and putting in the underground infrastructure, including piping the stormwater race, along with building the roundabout itself.”
Mason said cost estimates for any project are refined as the design process happens.
NZTA is only funding the construction of the roundabout at 51% of the expected construction cost of $4.7m, which is set to begin in January and be completed by the end of June.
“Roundabouts are always complicated infrastructure, but the projected budget for this roundabout is lower than the budgets for the Prebbleton roundabouts on Shands Road.”
The two most recent roundabouts on Shands Road were at Hamptons Road for $10.5m and at Trent's Road for $7.4m – with both boosted by 51% NZTA funding and 7% development contributions.
Spriggs said the "primary driver for an intersection upgrade is increasing traffic volumes at that intersection".
In September, Spriggs said the Springston-Rolleston Road and Selwyn Road roundabout was chosen because it fit in with the “big picture of developing a sort of a ring road type around Rolleston”.
NZTA has been working on a $200m Rolleston connectivity roading programme, a series of council and NZTA projects aimed at improving links between Rolleston’s residential areas, town centre, SH1, and industrial areas as the town grows.
The first stage of the project is complete, adding a roundabout at the SH1/Dunns Crossing Road and Walkers Road intersection, along with upgrades at the Weedons interchange – the two corners of the ring road.
Stage two is now underway with the SH1 flyover, while work is underway on the road widening and realignments on Two Chain, Jones, and Hoskyns roads.
Further roundabouts are planned at the intersections of Selwyn Road and Lincoln-Rolleston Road/Weedons Road, and Selwyn Road and Dunns Crossing Road.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
