Taskforce Twizel gears up to celebrate its 30th birthday aims to cut 300 cars

It is a 300-page book on the hydro-power scheme in the Mackenzie, and on the Otematata and Twizel communities. Three hundred copies are expected to be ready for distribution by this weekend.

The re-release is in time for the Twizel Queen’s Birthday reunion weekend, celebrating 30 years of Twizel being an official town, and 45 years since the start of the hydro project. Dam Dwellers was first published in 1995, with a reprint in 1996.

Sheridan died of cancer last Organisers of Twizel’s 30th birthday celebrations say it will be a ‘‘busy but low-key’’ affair.

Although there is no formal dinner or function planned for the weekend, organiser Shaun Norman said there was still a host of other activities scheduled, including a guided visit of the Ohau power station, a trip on sections of the Alps2Ocean cycle trail and screenings of a film outlining the history of Twizel.

‘‘We don’t know whether there will be 200 or 2000 visitors, because we’re not having any formalities, this is just a general reunion,’’ Norman said.

‘‘However, it’s appropriate we mark the official anniversary of the town. People will have their stories to tell.’’

The town began as part of the Upper Waitaki hydro scheme, with the official ground-breaking in 1969. After the work finished in the early 1980s, the Government threatened to disestablish the town. The locals, however, campaigned long and hard on it and on June 1, 1984, Twizel was officially recognised as a town.

‘‘The residents fought like hell to keep it. It just seemed crazy to not to make use of all the wonderful infrastructure that was left behind,’’ Norman said.

‘‘When you look at the growth in recent years, it’s amazing the Government even considered bulldozing it to the ground.’’

Norman ran a mountain guiding business for several years.

He and his wife moved from Mt Cook Village to Twizel in 1986, purchasing one of the first of the cheap homes.‘‘It cost $10,000, I think. When you look out at the views from my window, you’ll be astounded. You have the mountains, the rivers, the wide open spaces. I think it’s only recently people are starting to realise the value of the area, and the district in general, which is why there is a lot of concern voiced about land-use changes.’’

According to the 2013 census, the town has a resident population of about 1500 people.

However, thousands of tourists visit during the summer.

A full rundown of events is available on twizel.info/qb14. Getting 300 vehicles off Christchurch’s northern corridor will help solve crippling traffic congestion, research shows.

The taskforce charged with solving the northern motorway’s traffic woes says that new data shows its capacity has been exceeded by 300 vehicles during rush hour.

Reducing the number of vehicles by 300 would help get traffic flowing again, said taskforce boss NZ Transport Agency regional director Jim Harland.

‘‘If we can get the 300 cars starting [work] at a different time levels of service will be much better – that is the challenge.’’

He said the capacity of the motorway was 3000 vehicles it peak hour – currently it is running at 3300 from 6.30am to 7.15am.

A 3-kilometre journey from the Tram Rd on ramp to the Dickeys Rd intersection took 10 minutes instead of two minutes, said Harland.

‘‘If we can remove . . . about 10 per cent of traffic volumes from the motorway between 6.30am and 7.15am then we can halve the journey times along this section of the motorway during morning peak travel,’’ he said.

‘‘For most motorists this requires a half an hour difference in journey start time.’’

Changing work times or car pooling could help, he said.

The congestion has been attributed to the effects of the earthquakes. The Waimakariri District Council is projecting nine historic years’ growth in three.

A draft report to ECan is due on June 13 and the final report to the council chief executive group by June 30.