Accusations the New Zealand Transport Agency did not provide sufficient information to residents of Short St about a proposal to close access to Dunedin's Southern Motorway were rejected at a hearing yesterday.
Short St resident Sara Lindsay, also representing 14 of her neighbours, told hearing commissioners Colin Weatherall, Kate Wilson and David Benson-Pope residents were initially given a map which did not specify closing their link to the Southern Motorway.
The map, which did not detail a proposed cul-de-sac NZTA wants to construct in Short St to stop motorists linking with SH1 from Kaikorai Valley, was distributed before a subsequent round of public consultation and notification of the full proposal, Mrs Lindsay said.
NZTA counsel Kerry Smith yesterday answered questions from the commissioners about the extent of public consultation with affected residents.
About 400 letters mailed to local residents in February, a public meeting held in Caversham in March and notification of the proposed changes, alongside newspaper articles, had all promoted the closure of Short St, he told the commissioners.
Mr Smith's closing arguments came on the third day of a hearing to deliberate the NZTA's application for a change of designation along State Highway 1 through Caversham Valley, between Lookout Point and Barnes Dr, to proceed with a second stage of highway upgrades projected to cost between $20 million and $25 million.
A proposed overbridge across the Caversham Valley section of the highway at Lookout Point, connecting Mornington and Riselaw Rds, is the standout feature of the roading development.
Concerns raised about the potential noise impacts of SH1 changes were, given the current environment, "not going to be worsened by this [proposed] project", Mr Smith said.
"Broader issues" surrounding concerns about the protection of peripatus habitat had been debated at length during the hearing, but much of these were outside the scope of the commissioners' considerations, Mr Smith said.
The NZTA's "relatively modest" requirement for a "small slice" of land - about 0.5 ha - had sparked a substantial response, which had in turn been a "plus" for raising the public profile of awareness about the creature, he said.
