At the Invercargill City Council infrastructure and growth committee meeting last Tuesday, councillors approved traffic light installations at the Yarrow and Isabella Sts intersection.
In the past 10 years there had been 35 crashes — two serious, seven minor and 26 non-injury — at the intersection which resulted in three people suffering serious injuries and 11 with minor injuries.
Lights were also recommended for the Elles and Tramway Rds intersection and at the Queens Dr pedestrian crossing outside James Hargest junior campus.
Committee members said installing lights at the Queens Dr and Layard St intersection was not an option at this time.
Chief engineer Russell Pearson said, in a report tabled at the meeting, the council had a budget of $1.5 million for the 2026-27 programme of works, which included road safety related activities.
Instead of including the Queens Dr and Layard St intersection in the programme, which would require most of the budget, he suggested several smaller projects.
He recommended the Queens Dr-Layard St, and Elles Rd-McQuarrie St intersections be retained for consideration in future long-term plan or annual plan funding rounds.
Speaking to his report, Mr Pearson said it had recently been reported in the media the Isabella-Yarrow Sts intersection was one of the six worst in the South Island.
“So I guess that also validates some of our findings as well.”
During the discussion, Invercargill Mayor Tom Campbell asked if completing the three projects would impact next year’s rates.
Mr Pearson said it would not.
Cr Andrea de Vries asked if the lights on the Queens Dr crossing would help relieve the traffic congestion at the Layard St-Queens Dr intersection.
The council’s road safety and network manager Grant Fisher said while stopping cars created gaps in the traffic, in this case the distance between the crossing and the intersection would limit this happening.
Mr Pearson said it might be necessary in the future to install signals at the intersection, which at present was estimated to cost up to $1.5m.
“If the intersection continues to, I guess, have issues then we would need to readdress it.”
