90 minutes to travel a few kilometres

But the end (of the road) is nigh

Apr 05, 2023

Last year I went to St Leonards for a story, did the interview and then drove back to the office.

But it took 45 minutes to drive from there to the stadium - a 5.9km trip that should take seven minutes. I could have run it*.

By the time I reached work, with a deadline fast approaching, I was a seething mess of a human.

I’ve lived in big cities, I’ve spent hours of my life stuck in gridlock. You don’t expect that in a city of 125,000 people, and nor do I want it.

So spare a thought for those who live or work in Port Chalmers over the last few years, but particularly this week.

On Tuesday, the 9km stretch of SH 88 from near the stadium to the port town had four listed roadworks on the website of transport agency Waka Kotahi.

Today, for those playing at home, there were five.

But on Tuesday it took some motorists up to 90 minutes to complete that journey. Today (Wednesday) I did the return journey in 45 minutes, and that felt like an age.

Tuesday’s delays led to a colleague of mine (normally mild-mannered) to miss a work job (he was no longer mild-mannered).

According to the local Port Chalmers Facebook page, he was not alone with his gripes.

One missed a funeral, others missed appointments.

Many were angry. Very angry.

Raewynne Pedofski told me that from Black Jacks Pt to just near the stadium took one hour, a distance of less than a kilometre.

It appears the large delay was caused by a very human decision, to dispense with the people holding the stop/go signs, preferring “automatic lights with a shorter time span”, she said.

It also caused the traffic to back up all the way to the Frederick St intersection, and vehicles “clogging the intersections”, she said.

I’ve seen videos of cars backed up for several kilometres near the stadium, which today will host a major concert, and the University Oval, which is hosting an international cricket match.

While SH88 was still lined with road cones and machinery, work had largely stopped on Wednesday, until I got closer to Port Chalmers.

I think someone was listening.

The reason for the traffic delays is not a new one, although Tuesday is understood to be the worst for delays.

It is known as the SH88 Dunedin to Port Chalmers Safety Improvement, a project with a price tag between $37 million - $43 million.

This is from the Waka Kotahi website:

“Construction funding was approved in 2019 for the SH88 safety improvements, including building the last section of the SH88 shared walking and cycling path between St Leonards and Port Chalmers. Work started in early 2020 but has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This section of shared path is expected to open in mid-2023.”

Jarrod Hodson, of the West Harbour Community Board, said the ongoing roadworks spread over multiple sites were “unfortunately just something we have to deal with”.

“After yesterday, I would hope that steps would be taken to help prevent the same situation that became a major issue from happening again.”

But that short-term pain would soon be offset by the completion of the cycleway.

Hopefully the cycleway leads to more people, tired of sitting in their idling cars over the past year, bike to and from Dunedin.

On a beautiful day, like today, it looks spectacular.

One person who regularly cycles the route is Cr Steve Walker, who can leave his house in Port Chalmers and be at his desk at council, in central Dunedin, in under 30 minutes.

He was confident that when the cycleway opened that time would be reduced to under 25 minutes.

Walker said it wasn’t uncommon for him to see friends stuck in traffic, and they would later message him with something along the lines of: “bastard”.

Chris Harris, Waka Kotahi senior network manager, said road users experienced significant delays near the Anzac Ave, Parry Street roundabout on Tuesday.

“Waka Kotahi apologises to people held up yesterday and will aim to avoid long delays after Easter when this work resumes.”

He added:

Over the last few weeks this site has been effectively managed with manual stop/go traffic management.
On Tuesday morning, the crew switched to traffic lights at the site. These were not as responsive as we need them to be and this contributed to congestion and queuing in both directions.
The worksite between the roundabout and Ravensbourne was opened up to two lanes of traffic just after 1pm Tuesday. This released the traffic build up and resolved queuing fairly quickly once people could start moving through.

He stressed the issue was not due to the cycleway, but highway maintenance.

“The shared path work sites are not causing major delays currently.”

He added:

“We had around a dozen contacts from members of the public yesterday morning: a mix of advice to make sure we knew about the delays, queries because people were trying to plan around it for future travel and some understandably upset and frustrated people.”
“Most of the people we have spoken with have been understanding of the situation and we appreciate the patience of everyone affected.”

But was it avoidable?

Harris said:

“We responded as quickly as we were able to given that in order to reopen the road to two lanes it has to be in a safe condition for road users. Once work is underway, crews cannot always just pack up and get out of the way within minutes (eg holes in the road need to be addressed/made safe.)
“We apologise for this impact upon road users. If we are expecting unavoidable delays, we normally aim to communicate these in advance so that people can plan ahead. In this case, we underestimated the effects of the change in the traffic management.”

Seems like a good response.

There is an extraordinary meeting of the Dunedin City Council tomorrow where councillors will go through the council’s annual report for the year ending June 30 2022.

You can read it here, and these are some things I found:

The number of new homes consented in the 2021-22 financial year was 641 (a record high).
The Dunedin Tunnel Trails Trust, which is looking at using two disused tunnels, has completed a preliminary design and a funding case is before Waka Kotahi.
18 new bike stands have been installed around the city.
This is the percentage of residents who attended the following: libraries (56%), art gallery (46%), Toitū (66%), Chinese Garden (25%), Olveston (13%), Moana Pool (48%), Botanic Gardens (76%).
The library received over 500 items for its Ralph Hotere collection.
There was a record number of dog registrations: 18,609. Woof.
Travel times by car (and then bus) include St Clair to Octagon: 10.51 (19 minutes bus hub) Mosgiel to Octagon: 18 minutes (38 minutes bus hub via Fairfield Green Island).
59 million litres of petrol and 95 million litres of diesel was sold in Dunedin during this time.
The amount of municipal solid waste per person was 411kgs per person.
4000 households had their yellow lidded wheelie bins inspected.

This just in: A public meeting of the Save Our Trains campaign will be held on Saturday 15 April 2023 from 2:00pm – 4:00pm at the auditorium of Toitū Otago Settlers Museum.

Spokesperson Patrick Rooney said there has been a number of local initiatives and campaigns around passenger rail in Dunedin, including the potential for Dunedin Rail to be extended into offering commuter passenger services, and revitalising an intercity service such as the former Southerner service.

ICYMI I did an update on a Durham St development, you can read that here, and also asked TVNZ what is happening with their reporting stocks given the resignation of Maddy Lloyd, you can read that here.

That story also provided an opportunity to put this in: