Residents reject motorway link
Suburban Christchurch residents say they will be disadvantaged by a Northern Motorway traffic change that saves a few minutes’ driving for North Canterbury commuters.
St Albans and Mairehau residents have joined local businesses in opposing proposed changes that would channel traffic to and from the $240 million motorway past their doors when it opens in 2020.
Locals, including Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb, have made submissions and more than 100 others have launched a petition asking the Christchurch City Council to rethink how to link the motorway to the central city.
‘‘Why are Christchurch residents having to be disadvantaged by traffic from North Canterbury being forced down our roads?’’ the petition asks.
‘‘These are people from a different district that don’t pay rates here, but the residents and business in St Albans, Mairehau and Edgeware are paying the costs socially and financially to accommodate these people so they can get to or from the city a few minutes faster.’’
The $17 million plan would send traffic from the southern end of the motorway and upgraded Cranford St onto Berwick and Warrington streets to connect with Madras and Barbadoes streets. It could boost traffic in the area an estimated 30 per cent.
Turning options for side streets along Cranford St would be reduced and parking by St Albans Park removed.
Shops on Cranford St and other main streets have already protested that removing parking spaces through peak-time clearways could wreck their businesses.
One of the petition’s founders, Warrington St resident Mark Wilson, said the only notice they had of the changes was a letterbox pamphlet ‘‘slipped in with the junk mail’’. Previously Sherborne St was to have been the motorway link, he said.
‘‘A lot of people didn’t realise it was so significant. It took everyone by surprise’’.
Wilson said the plan now seemed to be ‘‘a fait accompli’’, with their roads given as the only possible route. They had been given few details on the effects of the changes, he said.
‘‘We have so many concerns – the extra traffic, safety of schoolchildren, the noise, the fumes. They should have to compensate people by buying their properties.’’
The residents have held a community meeting and are door-knocking to ensure neighbours know of the plans, he said. They plan to hand the petition to Webb, who will forward it to the council.
The city council’s six-week feedback period on the plan closed at the weekend.
In his submission, Webb said inner suburbs and rates money were being sacrificed for the needs of commuters. Previous transport strategies had already encouraged commuter towns at the expense of growth and development within Christchurch, he said.
He said the new plan was too ‘‘carcentric’’, would damage communities by creating barriers, harm businesses and reduce the amenity of the neighbourhoods.
‘‘There are real risks that those communities will be damaged.’’