Dunedin's one-way system likely to be retained as hospital rebuild continues

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Dunedin News

From reporter Hamish McNeilly:

Dunedin’s one way system looks likely to be retained as one of the country’s largest infrastructure project is built in the middle of it.

The Dunedin City Council will debate options for State Highway 1 through the city when councillors meet on Monday.

Two options are to be considered: retaining the existing one-way system – with enhancements – or creating a two-way option. A report to councillors recommends they endorse the former.

As work ramps up on the new $1.4 billion Dunedin Hospital project, the council was working alongside the likes of Waka Kotahi and the Otago Regional Council to manage the disruption to traffic.

Late last year, Waka Kotahi supported retaining the existing one-way network, while making safety and amenity improvements, but the city council supported the two-way option.

Both the council and the agency agreed to undertake more work looking at both options.

The council’s report noted there was an opportunity to improve the amenity of the existing one-way option by reducing parking and changing the width of the existing cycleways.

The two-way option would allow for significantly improved amenities, including tree planting and garden beds on the existing northbound one-way, and reduced parking. However, no amenity improvements could be made on the existing southbound route.

The two-way option would result in increased travel times, with modelling indicating that there was only capacity for about 85% of expected vehicle demand by 2028, which would possibly drive motorists onto other roads.

While both options were similar in terms of affordability and safety, the two-way option scored better for liveability, travel choice, connectivity and carbon zero goals.

Waka Kotahi would continue to own, operate, and maintain both the north and southbound lanes of the state highway network, but that would not be the case if Cumberland St became a local road.

Council staff requested flexibility in the design so the configuration of the state highway could be reconsidered in the future.

A report noted the northbound one-way lanes had 15,600 vehicle movements each day, of which 600 were trucks, while the southbound one-way lanes had 14,200 vehicle movements daily, including 500 trucks.

Retaining the one-way system was a key part of last year’s election campaign by mayor Jules Radich and his Team Dunedin ticket.