Canterbury business owner fumes at ‘surprise’ roadworks

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A Mid-Canterbury business owner is up in arms at roadworks starting without consultation that will limit access for months, and potentially permanently.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency contractors have started installing the in-road scales in Rakaia, between Christchurch and Ashburton, as part of a split-site Commercial Vehicle Safety Centre, previously called weigh stations, just north of the Rakaia River.

Canterbury Motorcycles and Kawasaki Canterbury Ltd owner Clint Collett said he had no idea the work was coming and was given short notice it was starting.

Waka Kotahi announced on January 12 that work would be starting shortly and Collett said the first they knew about it was on January 13, with the road cones arriving on January 17.

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“My blood was boiling when I saw them set up the road cones on Tuesday morning after we had only been served the paperwork on Friday,” Collett said.

“There was no consultation before that at all.”

Waka Kotahi’s regional relationships director, James Caygill, acknowledged “it would have been better to advise businesses earlier, however, the Christmas break made that not possible”.

Collett said he accepted roadworks were inevitable but was frustrated they did not allow for any access by northbound traffic.

Harvey's Bakehouse on SH1 in Rakaia has been blocked off to northbound traffic during the busy end of holidays traffic period.

Jonathan Leask/LDR

Harvey’s Bakehouse on SH1 in Rakaia has been blocked off to northbound traffic during the busy end of holidays traffic period.

“My business is a destination business so if people are coming to buy a motorbike they will come and do it, but for a convenience place like Harvey’s Bakehouse next door, it is going to kill their business.”

Because of the placement of the scales, Collett believed the two businesses were also set to lose some or all of the roadside parking on the north side of SH1 across the road.

The Rakaia Community Association has started a petition to change the traffic management plan to restore access for the businesses and ensure parking is retained.

The site of the proposed weigh station.

John Kirk-Anderson/Stuff

The site of the proposed weigh station.

Policing heavy trucks necessary but not at ‘dangerous location’

Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand senior industry adviser Jim Crouchley said the industry had no issues with a centre being built – the “issue for us is the location”.

“As an industry, there is nothing wrong with policing – it has to happen to get the cowboys out of the industry. But it’s being put in a dangerous place.”

The centre is now being built as a split-site facility, with a northbound site at Weavers Rd (north of the Rakaia rail overbridge), and the southbound site on the opposite side of SH1 at North Rakaia Rd (between the river bridge and the overhead rail bridge), which was the original proposed site back in 2019.

Crouchley said he had spoken to a former commercial vehicle investigation sergeant who described the location as a “death trap”.

STACY SQUIRES/STUFF

Senior pupils at Rangiora’s Te Matauru have launched a petition to get their local council to improve road safety outside their school. (First published March 2021)

Even with the proposed reduction to 80kph along the section of SH1, it would not give a heavy vehicle enough room to safely pull out without hindering oncoming traffic coming over the overbridge, he said.

They tested two trucks, one manual and one automatic, with trailers pulling out of North Rakaia Rd onto SH1 heading south.

“The fastest one of them got to when they entered the concrete abutments of the bridge was 52kph, and the other was 46kph.

“That’s the speed when they reach the bridge but when they pull out of the side road they are going to be crawling up getting to that speed.”

Selwyn MP Nicola Grigg says locals are concerned about the centre’s location – not the centre itself.

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

Selwyn MP Nicola Grigg says locals are concerned about the centre’s location – not the centre itself.

Waka Kotahi regional relationships director James Caygill said the sites would not include slip lanes, but would have activated (electronic) speed signs, which would reduce the speed limit to 60kph when a vehicle was exiting North Rakaia Rd.

A safety audit concluded “there are no known issues at these intersections relative to the left turn in and left turn out manoeuvres”, he said.

Concerns halted the original proposal at the North Rakaia Rd site in 2019 and Caygill said a site south of the Rangitata River was “briefly considered but was discounted due to the significant reduction in the number of heavy vehicles it would capture”.

“The most significant issue raised with the Rakaia site in talking to the freight industry and key stakeholders was the difficulty in turning right out of the site.

“Hence the decision was made to split the sites to make all turns left in and left out.”

Sewlyn MP Nicola Grigg said she was aware of local opposition not for the facility itself, “but the location of it on an obviously dangerous stretch of the road”.

“Whilst I appreciate and understand Waka Kotahi’s aspiration for a weighbridge located in the south of our region, the safety of road users must be the paramount concern.”

Heavy truck volumes are increasing.

Ricky Wilson/Stuff

Heavy truck volumes are increasing.

Heavy vehicle traffic increasing

Data obtained from Waka Kotahi’s current weigh-in-motion site, built in the road in 2015, shows a 17% increase in the number of heavy vehicles from 2018 to 2022.

Originally the weigh-in-motion site was proposed to be used to collect data for all vehicles travelling over the Rakaia Bridge with a camera for automated number plate recognition to allow the identification of trucks that are overloaded, travelling over speed, or that have unpaid road user charges.

However, a Waka Kotahi spokesperson said the particular system was unable to match up vehicles with possible overweight loads for potential prosecutions, given the higher bar required for accuracy.

What it has done is provide an accurate traffic flow count, differentiating heavy and light vehicles.

Heavy vehicles have a gross vehicle mass (GVM) of more than 3500kg while light vehicles have a GVM of under 3500kg.

A new freight hub will put more containers on rail. (Stock image)

Supplied

A new freight hub will put more containers on rail. (Stock image)

In 2018, the weighbridge recorded 694,622 heavy vehicles, which was 14% of the total traffic flow.

Last year, heavy vehicles totalled 826,246 – 16% of the total.

With the Fairfield Freight Hub set to be constructed this year, the number of heavy vehicles will drop in future.

The site at Fairton will see an increase in containers moved on rail and is estimated to cause a reduction of about 40,000 truck movements per year.

The freight hub is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023.

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