Transport changes in South Dunedin, including the removal of carparks, are the only way to ensure safe traffic flow, the Otago chairman of the Automobile Association says.
Work is expected to begin next month along Strathallan St, as part of the Dunedin City Council’s harbour arterial route, designed to create an eastern bypass of the centre city.
Yesterday, the Otago Daily Times reported the council had released a tender request for stage 3 of the Harbour Arterial Improvement Project, which included removing all 50 on-road carparks in Strathallan St and making the eastern end of the street two-lane left-turn only.
AA Otago district council chairman Malcolm Budd, of Dunedin, said the organisation was "delighted" the project was advancing after little progress in recent years.
The loss of carparks along Strathallan St was disappointing, but it was the only way to add another lane and accommodate traffic flow.
"By having two lanes, it’ll allow the traffic to flow a lot quicker and a lot easier," Mr Budd said.
"You can’t make [the road] any wider, so to make it safer and more effective, they’d have to remove the carparks."
"[It] will certainly make traffic flow easier at that intersection and be safer."
The harbour arterial project is expected to reduce traffic flow through the centre city during construction of the new hospital and is planned to align with NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) work on State Highways1 and 88.
Mr Budd said he favoured completing the council’s improvements before NZTA’s work, which he felt might become unnecessary.
"[NZTA] may spend all that money changing all that, and then once they get the eastern arterial route in, it may not even affect it," he said.
Work in South Dunedin is planned to start in late October and run until May next year — $2.8 million has been allocated in the council’s nine-year plan for the project.
