Lower Queen Street will remain open while a major bridge upgrade is conducted on the key Richmond road.
Tasman District Council had been weighing up whether it worth closing the road instead during the upgrade to save a few hundred thousand dollars and shave four months off the project’s construction.
But on Thursday, elected members agreed to build a temporary bridge so traffic could bypass the worksite, ensuring the critical roadway could remain open.
A council survey revealed that about 70 per cent of respondents supported building the bypass to keep the road open. An economic impact assessment also found that a total closure of the road would result in about $2.7 million in losses for the regional economy.
The financial saving for the council of closing the road has also shrunk over recent months from the initial estimate of up to $1.8 million, down to potentially $600k, due to updated forecasts and an NZTA expectation that the council install a temporary roundabout at the intersection of McShane Rd and the Appleby Highway/SH60. Regardless, the road closed for five days on Monday for communication lines and water pipes to be relocated from the road and to allow trees to be removed.
Local trucking contractor Dion Mytton said the decision was “a positive”.
He drives the road about 40 times a day and had previously estimated that a closure would have cost his business up to $300k due to extra congestion and travelling a longer detour route.
However, he said the project would still have an impact on local businesses due to longer waiting time on top of the existing congestion.
Council expected travel times to increase by 10–15 seconds with the bypass in place due to the 30kmh speed limit on the temporary bypass bridge.
“But it’s obviously a better option than going right around,” Dion says.
He wondered why construction wouldn’t be taking place “around the clock” to minimise disruption and get the project done in “half the time”.
Shifting from a five-day to a six-day working week alone for the project would cost about an extra $350k, the council estimated. But given the importance of the “major route” which sees 10,000 vehicle movements each day, Dion thought significant extra costs to get the upgrade completed sooner were justified.
Richmond councillor Kit Maling supported keeping the road open despite the additional cost.
“Without this bypass, you’d end up with gridlock, and the cost is greater to the community in terms of lost productivity. So it is an extra cost, but I don’t think there’s any other option.”
A couple of other small closures of less than 48 hours will still be needed, though these would be timed to take place either overnight or on the weekend. The rest of the project, starting with the construction of the bypass bridge for the first 5–6 weeks, is currently slated to begin in early August and is expected to take 14 months.
