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Officials are set to discuss the possibility of lowering the speed limit on State Highway 1 in central Dunedin.
Conversations will be happening in the coming weeks between Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and Dunedin City Council staff about a planned review, the agency has confirmed.
The review would be carried out in the next financial year, Minister of Transport Michael Wood said in a letter sent to the Southern District Health Board last month.
The planned building of the new Dunedin Hospital in the central city resulted in the advancement of a package of projects designed to offset disruption to traffic.
Issues not yet resolved include whether the well-used SH1 pair of one-way routes around the new hospital should be retained or replaced by a two-way traffic model, and determination of speed limits in the area.
Retention of a 50kmh limit for both Cumberland and Castle Sts appears unlikely.
Waka Kotahi would continue to work with the hospital build project team, "to ensure the new Dunedin Hospital has appropriate levels of service and access through a slower, safer and less trafficked solution that enables improved pedestrian access and increased amenity", Mr Wood said.
Officials have previously signalled a speed limit of 40kmh could be imposed around the new hospital if the one-way system is retained.
Another possibility is — if a two-way model is preferred — the limit could stay at 50kmh in Castle St and be reduced to 30kmh in Cumberland St, if it became a local road rather than part of SH1.
The transport agency’s board last year backed a business case that retained the one-way system in enhanced form, but the city council challenged that and advocated for a two-way model as "the basis for future discussion".
In his letter, Mr Wood said Waka Kotahi was looking more closely at urban design improvements that could be made in both scenarios.
He had outlined his expectation, "that we recognise the generational opportunity to create a more sustainable, healthy and people-friendly transport system for Dunedin".