The Star: May 10, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday May 10 2018 7
News
Plan for Brougham St bottleneck
NZTA moves
to ease
congestion
• By Julia Evans
ONE OF the city’s busiest roads
is set to have its congestion issues
addressed.
Brougham St “corridor improvements”
have been included
in the draft transport agency
investment proposal
2018-27
released by the
New Zealand
Transport
Agency.
About 44,000
vehicles,
including 5000
Jim Harland
freight, use the
thoroughfare
from the Selwyn
district to Lyttelton Port each
day.
“The Brougham St, State Highway
76 project is identified as a
proposed activity, which means
it will continue to be developed,
subject to its new alignment with
the Government policy statement
on land transport priorities,”
NZTA direction regional
relationships Jim Harland said.
The proposal includes a budget
of between $10 million-$100 million
for the upgrades to increase
flow along the street.
The work would be completed
before 2021, while a detailed
business case and design
would begin when the plan
was approved by Environment
Canterbury’s regional transport
committee before August 31.
The plan said NZTA will work
with partners, including the
city council and Selwyn District
Council, to “investigate appropriate
solutions” to congestion
along Brougham St to the Rolleston
Corridor, which connects
Selwyn to the Lyttelton Port.
“Doing so will improve
customer access between the
south of the city to Lyttelton Port
and help reduce congestion in
Christchurch’s south-western
suburbs,” the plan said.
It comes as Selwyn Mayor Sam
Broughton raised his concerns
about congestion on the motorway
during the city council’s
Long Term Plan hearings.
Mr Broughton said he anticipates
congestion will get worse
the longer the corridor is left as
it is.
CONGESTION:
Brougham
St has been
identified
as in need
of corridor
improvements
by NZTA.
PHOTO:
MARTIN
HUNTER
“The southern end of the motorway
connecting to Brougham
St is a major cause of transport
delays to the wider travelling
public, which is expected to
get worse as time goes on,” Mr
Broughton said.
This was inevitable with the
expected population increases in
both Selwyn and Christchurch,
he said.
City council manager planning
and delivery transport
Lynette Ellis said it would work
with NZTA to “effectively and
efficiently” keep the transport
network running, including
Brougham St.
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City’s roads
get $10m
boost
• By Julia Evans
THE CITY’S road maintenance
budget will receive a $10 million
cash injection.
But the additional New Zealand
Transport Agency funding only
puts the level of service in line
with other cities around the
country, city council manager city
streets maintenance Mark Pinner
said.
“The $10m represents an
increase over total budget approved
by NZTA from $145m for
the 2015-18 three-year period, to
$155m for the 2018-21 period,” he
said.
Mr Pinner said the extra funding
would go towards resealing
damaged roads around the city.
“Obtaining the ‘extra’ level of
investment will still only deliver
an equivalent level of services to
other NZ cities in an anticipated
20-year horizon.”
The additional money equates
to about 10km of additional sealing
annually, Mr Pinner said.
Of the $155 million, NZTA
would be paying 51 per cent,
while the council would contribute
49 per cent.
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