Forget Hawaii. A bemused resident has set up Dunedin's answer to the tropical paradise on a controversial St Clair traffic island.
St Clair local Conrad Stedman is among a group of residents concerned at how difficult traffic islands installed as part of the Dunedin City Council's $6.07 million South Dunedin cycle network have made manoeuvring for drivers navigating the intersections.
To make his point, he has dubbed the traffic islands at the intersection of Coughtrey St, Hargest Cres and Richardson St ''Hargest Island'', complete with its own Facebook page inviting people to visit.
''Hargest Island is a beautiful concrete paradise escape. Conveniently located, poorly designed, bang smack in the middle of a busy intersection in St Clair,'' Mr Stedman, who unsuccessfully stood for council at the last election, says on the page.
He said yesterday he set up the page as a light-hearted way of raising his concerns about safety at the intersection, which was so narrow some vehicles were failing to make the corner without driving on to the island.
The idea came to him because of ''the fact it took up so much space and it's like an island''.
He urged the council to do something to fix the traffic islands, before there was a serious crash.
He was not against cycleways, but felt the South Dunedin network was in the wrong place, and there were better ways of slowing traffic.
DCC infrastructure services committee chairwoman Cr Kate Wilson accepted decisions had been made on the South Dunedin cycle network ''that weren't quite what was meant to happen''.
Concerns about the narrowness of the lanes leading up to the Coughtrey St intersection were being looked at.
''That work is ongoing and there have been [site] visits several times this week.''
The council was open to making the traffic islands smaller, if necessary.
''If it's been found to be getting in the way of what is acceptable flow of traffic round those streets, then I am sure it will be something that is looked at.''
The council and contractors were learning as they went along, but drivers needed to learn too: ''Maybe their driving behaviour needs to change,'' she said.
In contrast, two residents told the Otago Daily Times at the site they supported the traffic islands.
