Market St intersection remediation 'a priority'

After crashes and controversy, the Dunedin City Council says it will return a problematic St Kilda intersection to its pre-cycleway layout.

The intersection at Market and Tedder Sts has been blamed by residents for crashes and near misses after a change to give-way rules to accommodate cyclists, part of the roll-out of the botched South Dunedin cycle network.

Earlier this month, a car crashed through a hedge into a resident's yard.

Before the change, the busier Market St had right of way over Tedder St, and despite the new rules being in force for more than a year, people were still driving straight through, residents said.

St Kilda's Iain Lourie wrote last week to the council and the Otago Daily Times saying his daughter and granddaughter had been involved in a T-bone collision at the intersection.

"While there to assist with the accident, we saw two other near-misses happen.''

Mr Lourie said he used the intersection daily to turn left into Market St, and if there was a car at the give way sign there was almost no room to turn.

"Time to fix this. Return the intersection to the way it used to be.''

Acting transport group manager Richard Saunders said the council was aware of the issues, and was making the work a priority.

Work would include widening kerbs for easier manoeuvring of cars, and "changing the priority back to Market St''.

The council said last week it would do remedial work at five intersections in the area.

david.loughrey@odt.co.nz