Council’s ferry fears for Picton

The Marlborough District Council is concerned New Zealand’s transport agency is downplaying the impact larger ferries will have on Picton’s roads, prompting a request for the agency’s traffic predictions.

The move will see a re-run of a traffic report, released on Tuesday, which concluded Blenheim’s traffic was not busy enough for a bypass, but it was busy enough for another roundabout.

Bosses from the Marlborough District Council and Port Marlborough have signed a letter asking Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency for traffic data after it said plans for two new Interislander ferries would not greatly impact the region’s roads.

Council chief executive Mark Wheeler, one of three to sign the letter, said the council and port had “some concerns” with the reassurance. They wanted to check traffic predictions through their own systems, so any problem areas were taken care of.

“They [NZTA] are saying the impact will not be of great consequence, but we want to be sure of that ourselves, because we want to go back to the public to reassure them.”

NZTA had been “receptive” to the letter, and was expected to provide the council with its traffic models for different Picton intersections in the coming days, Wheeler said.

Stuff could not obtain a copy of the letter as it contained commercially sensitive information.

Last year, Kiwirail, NZTA, Port Marlborough and the council began a four-year plan to upgrade Picton’s ferry terminal, but the project was one of 11 approved for fast-tracking in June.

The new terminal would accommodate the two new ferries, set to be on the water by 2024, which could carry trains across

Cook Strait. The idea was to save rail cargo from being unloaded and reloaded between islands.

NZTA had hired an independent consultant to look at what impact the new larger ferries would have on traffic, given there would be fewer ships but more passengers leaving at once.

An NZTA spokeswoman said traffic models would be part of the discussion, feeding into the wider terminal business case.

The business case had not been finalised, she said. Public open days were planned for later this year.

Wheeler said the intersections most likely affected were those along Kent St, proposed as the new State Highway 1, especially at its Dublin St and Wairau Rd intersections.

Both the intersections struggled to cope with a full load of passengers leaving the current smaller Interislander ferries.

Wheeler said it was likely plans to build a bridge over the rail line at Dublin St would go