Go around it
REGION: Palmerston North motorists are being encouraged to avoid travelling through the Ruahine St-church St intersection if they want to avoid delays.
Palmerston North motorists are being encouraged to avoid travelling through the Ruahine Stchurch St intersection, especially at peak times, if they want to avoid delays.
Higgins Contractors have started work on a $520,000 project to rebuild the roundabout at what was identified as the worst intersection in the city for pedestrians two years ago.
The need for improvements was highlighted in an audit of the city’s pedestrian crossings following a serious accident outside Palmerston North Hospital that prompted the installation of traffic signals on Ruahine St.
City council senior transportation engineer Glenn Connelly said the roundabout was one of the oldest in the city, and needed to be rebuilt.
Pedestrians would be the main beneficiaries of the improvements.
The work would involve removing the left-turn slip lanes for vehicle traffic, so pedestrians would have less distance to travel to reach the improved centre island refuges.
The single-lane approaches would be shared by vehicles and cyclists.
Connelly said the improvements would slow traffic speeds to improve safety.
The work was originally expected to cost about $375,000, but after time had passed and in light of busy workloads for the construction industry, tenders came in at the higher price of $520,000.
The city council approved the extra budget in the publicexcluded section of a meeting in August.
Just over half of the money was coming from a New Zealand Transport Agency subsidy.
The intersection was expected to remain open during most of the 10-week construction period ending in early December.
But Connelly said there would be delays, and motorists would need to proceed with caution, or find another route.
Avoiding travel at peak times was advised where possible, as alternative routes such as Albert St and Victoria Ave were already busy during school pick-up and drop-off times and at the beginning and end of the business day.