New speed limits will be introduced on Upper Clutha roads from October following a decision by Queenstown Lakes District councillors to adopt a speed limits bylaw at a council meeting in Wanaka yesterday.
The speed reductions will be implemented from October 1 on a staged basis according to safety. All will be in place by June 30.
Changes include a drop from 50kmh to 40kmh in all urban traffic areas across Wanaka, Albert Town, Hawea, Luggate and Cardrona, and a reduction in speed in school zones across the district.
The permanent speed limit in Aubrey Rd from the Anderson Rd intersection to Albert Town roundabout will be reduced from 70kmh to 60kmh.
From the Cardrona township to the distillery on Cardrona Valley Rd, and in Lake Hawea from Domain Rd to Muir Rd along Cemetery Rd, the speed limit will drop from 100kmh to 80kmh.
Mt Aspiring Rd will drop from 100kmh to 50kmh just prior to Roys Peak car park to just after the car park.
Ballantyne Rd will have a speed limit of 60kmh from the urban area extending to the state highway, and a new 20kmh speed limit will cover the unsealed section of Beacon Point Rd.
A speed limit reduction from 50kmh to 40kmh will be applied across most urban areas of wider Queenstown, including Fernhill, Sunshine Bay, Quail Rise, Shotover Country, Lake Hayes Estate, Arthurs Point and Kelvin Heights.
The current 70kmh limit on a section of Peninsula Rd will be reduced to 50kmh.
In the Arrowtown town centre - encompassing Buckingham St, Ramshaw Ln and Arrow Ln - the limit will reduce from 50kmh to 20kmh, while across the rest of the township, it will decrease from 50kmh to 40kmh.
The recommendations followed a special consultative procedure conducted by a panel that considered 357 written submissions and 10 oral submissions at hearings in June.
Permanent speed limit reductions on five road corridors, including the Cardrona Valley Rd from Wanaka to the Crown Range and the Crown Range Rd, were suggested with a view to reducing the high number of deaths and injuries on those roads.
Hearings panel member Cr Scott Stevens said the panel declined to suggest speed limit changes on open roads, instead recommending they become part of the future New Zealand Transport Agency review of permanent speed limits for the state highway network.
