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Warwick Smith/Stuff
Roadworks at the intersection of Ferguson St and Pitt St have been completed.
Palmerston North motorists can finally use the rebuilt intersection of Ferguson St and Pitt St as a year of roadworks to complete the ring road around the city centre comes to an end.
The $5 million project that kicked off in September 2022 has been plagued by a series of complications such as having to move more underground services than expected, and grappling with slippery blue clay soils that required extensive foundation work to rebuild the road.
The completion date, earlier anticipated for early in 2023, had slipped to May, and finally, to September.
City council acting transport and development group manager Bryce Hosking said completion of the project was a significant milestone.
It had involved installation of traffic lights at Pitt St, widening of Ferguson St to four lanes from Linton St to Pitt St, a signalised pedestrian crossing outside Pak ‘n Save, creating wider footpaths, and stopping right-hand turns out of Linton St.
It was the final section of the ring road to be improved, five decades after the Pitt St, Walding St, Grey, Princess and Ferguson St upgrades began, and long after Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School moved its main entrance into Linton St to free up the roadside reserve for the road widening.
Supplied
The Ferguson St upgrade has been completed with traffic lights at Pitt St and a signalised pedestrian crossing outside Pak N Save.
Completion of the inner city ring road route was a critical part of the Palmerston North Integrated Transport Initiative that would shape how people and freight moved around the city in the coming decades.
The intention was that the ring road would become a reliable and efficient route for trucks, connecting to the four arterial routes in and out of the city, making inner city streets safer for pedestrians and people on bikes.
The project was also expected to provide safety benefits.
Between Linton St and Pitt St there had been 34 crashes in the past decade, including one fatality and 17 injuries.
The widened street did not include cycle lanes, with the city’s urban cycling master plan encouraging cyclists to use Fitzherbert Ave, Cook St and College St as alternatives.
Waka Kotahi paid 51% of the cost of the project.
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