Better pedestrian access for Wanaka's new primary school at Scurr Heights is high on the transport priority list for the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
The Wanaka Community Board has backed plans to upgrade walkways and cycleways surrounding the school site to give parents and pupils "safer and healthier" alternative travel options.
About $75,000 is available this financial year for upgrading pedestrian and cycling facilities in Wanaka, and the council wants to make safe access to the new school a priority.
Wanaka Primary School, which will be accessed from two entry points from Totara Tce and an intersection at KingsDr-Ironside Dr, is scheduled to be completed by September next year.
QLDC staff have developed a school travel plan - in conjunction with the school's administrators - which has identified all of the cycleways and walkways within a 3km radius of the new school.
The plan also outlines possible new routes, and where safety improvements can be made to existing ones.
A list of nine transport upgrade projects has been prioritised on the plan.
Top of the list are upgrading a planned crossing on Totara Tce to a speed table and zebra crossing, installing pedestrian crossing points on Kings Dr, and creating a marked drop-off/pick-up area at the neighbouring Kellys Flat park reserve.
The installation of speed-reduction features for motor vehicles on Totara Tce and Kings Dr is also a high-priority feature.
A traffic requirement of the designation for the school is that a roundabout be installed by the Ministry of Education at the intersection of Kings Dr and Ironside Dr.
QLDC travel demand project manager Rae-Anne Kurucz said little funding had been put aside to improve pedestrian walkways across the district and more needed to be allocated in the next 10-year council community plan.
