Council allays resident’s traffic worries
A Bell Block resident who has lived in the area for 40 years believes increased traffic created once two new developments in the area are completed could cause chaos on nearby roads.
However, the New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) says Barbara Morris has no need to worry because the McDonald’s restaurant on Henwood Rd and the Summerset retirement village on Pohutukawa Place were subject to rigorous resource consenting processes and conditions were in place to manage traffic flow.
Morris lives on Pohutukawa Place, opposite the retirement village being built by Summerset, which will house up to 400 residents and employ 50-70 staff.
In its resource consent documentation, provided to Stuff by NPDC, it indicated there would be 975 vehicle movements a day, taking into account the travel of residents, staff and services, traffic flows ‘‘equivalent to the level of traffic that would otherwise be expected in conjunction with standard residential development on the same site.’’
Its traffic assessment report says if it was a residential development of 80-120 homes, this would equate to 10 vehicle movements per dwelling a day, or
800-1200 total vehicle movements per day. It also says Pohutukawa Place is operating well below its traffic-carrying capacity.
Meanwhile, the McDonald’s build on Henwood Rd is on track to open by the end of this year. Resource consent information says the design of the building take into account the need to mitigate against traffic congestion.
‘‘The design of this drivethrough lane has been carefully considered . . . avoid onsite and off site traffic conflicts.’’
The plan is for drive-through customers to circulate clockwise from the north side of the car park and exit on the east. Drivethrough business accounts for
62.5 per cent of vehicle volume.
The traffic-impact assessment report completed on behalf of McDonald’s indicates there are unlikely to be any major issues regardless of this measure.
‘‘The likely additional traffic volumes ... [are] unlikely to be significant, and the impact on the traffic environment and adjacent activities will be minimal.’’
Morris did not object to either project, but was worried about the potential impact the increased volume of traffic would have on the area and existing residents. She believed there should have been better consultation with residents because traffic, especially between 7.30am8.30am, was already an issue.
It sometimes took her 45 minutes to travel from home to her workplace in New Plymouth, which made her wonder how the roads would cope in future with the extra traffic, she said.
However, NPDC spokeswoman Jacqueline Baker was confident there would be no significant impact.