Otatara traffic now faces single-lane delays in Stead St until late September

Otatara traffic will face further single-lane delays at the site of Environment Southland’s Stead St pump replacement project until late September, Invercargill City councillors were told on Tuesday.

The site has been the subject of driver frustration at peak times, leading to some drivers failing to observe red lights or travelling at unsafe speeds, the council’s infrastructure Erin Moogan reported to the council’s infrastructure committee on Tuesday.

Environment Southland had indicated to the council on Friday that it hoped the street would return to two-lane traffic early this month, but that information was “even now a little out of date’’ she told councillors.

ES had posted an updated advisory that contractors Fulton Hogan had reviewed the traffic management plan and “unfortunately the space they had hoped would be available for two lanes of traffic and the shared walk/cycleway is not available’’.

This meant the existing plan of traffic lights managing a single lane would continue through to the end of September.

“This decision hasn’t been taken lightly,’’ ES posted online. “We have investigated all alternatives that could have allowed two lanes of traffic, however the current traffic management plan is the only option that ensures the ongoing safety of drivers, pedestrians and cyclists as well as the team working on-site.’’

City council infrastructure committee chairman Ian Pottinger questioned how reactive the traffic light system was proving, and whether enough human judgement was being applied.

That morning, he said, city-bound traffic on the Otatara side was backed up all the way to Marama Avenue South, while on the other side there were just two cars heading to Otatara.

“I was of the understanding that peak times they were manned. You had that human eye over things … There’s a lot of cars coming in (to the city) in the morning and not many going out.’’

ICC roading manager Russell Pearson said that there was a person who controlled traffic signals during peak periods 7am to about 9am, then from 3.30pm to 6pm.

The city owns the street but the work is an ES project with Fulton Hogan the contractor.

Moogan said that “in fairness to Environment Southland’’ it was always going to be a difficult site to manage stop-go traffic, with traffic not always behaving the same each day. She didn’t know there was any magic-bullet solution.

Environment Southland is spending $11 million to replace the Stead St pump station and protect parts of Invercargill from being flooded.

The city infrastructure committee also welcomed Moogan’s advice that the crash-prone intersection of Mill Road North with Bainfield/Fairweather roads would be the subject of a project to design an interim solution and scope design and deliver “a more intensive capital solution’’.

In the past 10 years, there have been 15 recorded crashes at this intersection – four resulted in serious injury, five resulted in minor injuries, and six were non-injuries.

Although “significant’’ advanced warning signage had previously been installed, issues with driver behaviour have been ongoing,