The New Zealand Transport Agency wants a designation change from the Dunedin City Council to allow for a second stage of safety improvements to upgrade SH1 through the upper Caversham Valley - the $20 million first stage of roadworks on the lower stretch of the valley route is already under way and scheduled for completion next year.
One feature of the proposed SH1 upgrade includes the closure of Short St, linking Kaikorai Valley Rd to the southern motorway as it approaches Lookout Point and the Caversham Valley.
The NZTA wants to close Short St to provide a safer exit for motorists travelling north on SH1 and turning left into Mornington Rd, given an extended exit lane will be created off the Southern Motorway where the Kaikorai Valley link joins.
Short St resident Sarah Lindsay, who spoke on behalf of 14 other residents, said the creation of a cul-de-sac was implausible, undesirable, and unnecessary.
She told the hearings panel Short St and Ensor St residents would be significantly affected by closing access to SH1 and the NZTA had not given them proper consideration.
"Our main concern is losing direct access to the motorway.
NZTA consider the negative effect of closing Short St is outweighed by safety improvements.
"I can honestly say in the seven years I have resided on Short St, there has never been a safety issue accessing the motorway," Mrs Lindsay said.
Hearing commissioner Kate Wilson asked NZTA projects team manager Simon Underwood if the agency had the right to stop access to SH1 from Short St.
Mr Underwood said he understood this was the case and that NZTA could make the closure irrespective of the highway designation change, which is being sought by way of a notice of requirement.
Yesterday's debate took place on day two of a public hearing to deliberate the NZTA's notice of requirement proposal for one of the most expensive and significant city transport projects in recent times.
Opus International Consultants environmental services principal Wendy Turvey told the hearings panel changes to SH1 and the Caversham Valley had always been on the agenda.
The community had always been aware of the intention to locate a transport corridor in the general area, since the 1960s.
The intention was "reinforced" in 1995 when the route was identified in the Dunedin District Plan and again highlighted in subsequent transport plans, strategies, and programmes by the relevant local authorities.
"There is ... a high level of awareness in the community that improvements would be constructed at some point," Ms Turvey said.
Notwithstanding this high level of community awareness, a project of this magnitude would have both positive and negative effects on individual landowners and the community, she said.
Positive effects of improving accessibility, travel efficiencies, safety and congestion, outweighed negative effects, which were largely localised and could be adequately remedied.
The hearing concludes today.
