Traffic management on the one-way system has loomed as an issue ever since the inner city site for the $1.47 billion hospital project was announced.
The issue was one of many discussed at the Southern District Health Board disability support advisory committee meeting yesterday, after a presentation by hospital planners about how the new facility was being designed for the needs of the disabled.
SDHB chief medical officer Nigel Millar said traffic in Cumberland St was very likely to be ‘‘considerably slowed’’ to make it easier for people to cross the road.
‘‘I probably can’t say much more than that at the present time but I’m hoping for more and I am aware that the SDHB has been active in that space to look out for how the hospital can be integrated with the town, rather than being separated by traffic.’’
SDHB chairman Pete Hodgson said a health impact assessment of transport options had been commissioned at an early stage of planning for the new hospital.
‘‘We are going ahead on stuff where there is agreement and revisiting stuff where there is agreement in part ...
‘‘We want the environment between the hospital and the town to be conducive to the movement of people.
‘‘The public has a view that if you slow the one-way system that the city will grind to a halt ... but it may be not as bad as that.’’
Clinical leadership group chairman John Adams said the hospital had five design stages. The outpatient building was about 75% complete and the larger inpatient building was almost halfway.
Hospital development project director Hamish Brown said a specialist accessibility consultant had been hired to ensure the buildings would be as accessible as possible, and they were on track to exceed current codes.
The inpatient building would be street accessible for disabled people, have accessible car parking, use ramps throughout, and would have adequate means for people with impaired senses to find their way through the building, he said.
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What a load of rubbish.
So the greens have had their grand plan of a single lane north and south well and truly pilloried. Next best idea is throttle traffic as much as possible.
Most major hospitals have well planned ambulance parking facilities adjacent to the emergency departments. As the new hospital is being designed by people who are experts at hospital design this will already be on the list.
The new hospital does not need a 30kph traffic zone to cater for 5 - 20 abulance visits per day.
It won't be a problem. By the time the hospital is built DCC will have banned all transport from the city centre.
Time for a Dunedin by-pass. Let the $70m sent outside Dunedin of the $100m collected annually from Dunedin households' petrol taxes/excise levies fund a by-pass/tunnel network for SH1. Why should we not get our own tunnels/roads? instead of paying for Auckland's/Wellington's new roads/tunnels? When will we unite to keep OUR taxes to work for us? instead of North Island projects?
In the 1960s the DCC had the foresite to split up state highway one, essentially giving dunedin a 4 lane highway for increasing traffic flow from city population growth and an expected increase of through traffic. Bringing the current statehighway down to two lanes with a bypass with strathallen street will still give us a 2 lane highway through dunedin.