Traffic controllers may be required to alleviate some of Queenstown’s congestion woes, the mayor says. Queenstown Lakes Mayor John Glover announced last Friday he was forming a mayoral taskforce to look at the Whakatipu’s clogged transport network and practical actions for faster delivery of initiatives. Funding remained a conundrum for big-ticket items, such as new bridges, because NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi support was contestable. But Mr Glover said the initial focus was on finding fixes that made an immediate difference. One idea is switching roadworks to night shifts. Another was “some human intervention”. “You might need some people with white gloves. “Like, in Asia, they have these amazing sort of dancing traffic policemen that keep the traffic [moving]. “The reality is that the $20 million intersection that needed to be built [at Howards Dr] didn’t get built yet, so we have to do something.” In addition to the gridlock along the southern corridor at peak times, Mr Glover noted queues on Gorge Rd heading towards Queenstown’s CBD had also at times been backed up to Arthurs Point’s Edith Cavell Bridge — a distance of about 8km. That had been exacerbated by the ongoing closure of Robins Rd, for a wastewater upgrade and the subsequent closure of Hallenstein St on July 20 — until this week — to replace ageing water connections. “When you want to turn right at the Gorge Rd traffic lights [on to Shotover St], you only get four cars [through] before you hit the next set of red lights, because they’re not sequenced,” Mr Glover said. “And nobody can apparently tell me why they can’t achieve that.” He accepted shutting Hallenstein St before Robins Rd reopened had not helped. “Probably that work was planned for a year, but I think it’s probably a dimension that has to be added into the planning. “We seem to have projects that take longer than anyone ever expected … I would like to see how those subsequent impacts are considered, let’s say, when some of this work is planned.” Mr Glover said he was expecting to form his taskforce within the next week or so. It would look at the host of plans and interventions that have previously been put on the table and, critically, how big projects, such as a second bridge at Arthurs Point, could be funded. “I would love to think … we’re able to make a coherent case for accelerating funding and stuff, but working out what we could do right now that will make a difference at peak times. “Maybe we’ve got three to four months to get a head of steam so that once the structures that fall out of the regional deal, because there will be a working group on transport, then it can move straight across. “I’m really hopeful we’ll get some good progress — it can’t come quick enough.” tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz
