Circulation 92,573 Thursday, December20, 2018 Gridlock as Christmas arrives Projects could be hit by town hall blowout BUMPER TO BUMPER: The Blenheim Rd overbridge yesterday. • By Matt Slaughter and Sophie Cornish RAIN AND the Christmas rush led to gridlock on some of the city’s roads yesterday. Motorists had long waits at key points on main arterials, with traffic backed up for hundreds of metres. Road policing operations manager Senior Sergeant Kelly Larsen said motorists should “take a breath, relax, be patient and focus on getting where they need to be safely.” “The roads are really busy at the moment. Obviously there is a couple of days before a lot of people finish work on Friday,” she said. “A lot of people out trying to do Christmas preparation. Trying to beat orange lights to get places 20sec earlier is just not worth it. “We want everyone to get home and be at home in one piece and be able to spend that time with family and friends.” •Turn to page 4 • By Julia Evans and Sophie Cornish THE $15 million budget blowout for the delayed town hall restoration will come at the expense of other capital projects. But which ones are yet to be decided. City councillors approved a $15 million injection yesterday, which comes in addition to a $11.65 million top-up in May. The funding will be skimmed from the city council’s capital programme, which a number of city councillors have raised concerns over. However, it will not have an impact on rates. “Other projects, projects communities have fought for . . . I really can’t stomach that conversation next year, that is going to be really, really challenging,” city councillor Deon Swiggs said. City councillor Mike Davidson said it will be “a battle” to find the extra $15 million. “While there’s going to be savings from some of the completed projects, other projects are at risk and I’m concerned that that is going to be felt at community level.” The expected extra cost takes the price of the project to $167.2 million, an increase of nearly a third from its original $127.5 budget. •Turn to page 4
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