Work begins to reconfigure unsafe intersection
WORK to fix a problematic South Dunedin intersection is finally under way after a string of highprofile crashes.
Dunedin City Council transport group manager Richard Saunders said in a statement yesterday preliminary surveying and marking work had begun this week at the intersection of Market and Tedder Sts.
More extensive work to change the traffic priority at the intersection back in favour of the busier Market St would begin on Monday.
The work, which was expected to take one month and cost $63,500, followed a series of crashes at the intersection in the past year.
The giveway rules at the intersection were changed last year to accommodate the rollout of the South Dunedin cycle network.
Before the change, vehicles on Market St had right of way over those on Tedder St, but a year on from the change, motorists were still driving straight through, residents said.
The most recent collision, on March 10, left two mangled cars blocking the intersection until towed away. Both drivers escaped injury, but neighbours, including Wayne White, feared a fatality before the problem was fixed.
‘‘Someone will soon,’’ he said.
Mr Saunders said work to reconfigure the intersection would see Tedder St closed to through traffic temporarily between Queens Dr and New St.
Residents would still have access but would not be able to cross Market St, which would be reduced to a single lane through the intersection, he said.
The intersection would also be controlled by temporary traffic lights while the work was carried out.
chris.morris@odt.co.nz
get
killed here