Traffic chaos to be investigated
Traffic chaos on State Highway 6 in the aftermath of incidents is to be investigated by Waka Kotahi and worked on by the region’s councils.
Nelson city and Richmond have experienced multiple instances of traffic disruption over the past year – after the August rain event in 2022 closed Rocks Rd, the closure of Whakatu Dr for resurfacing in November, and after a fatal incident on the same road last month.
Waka Kotahi director of regional relationships Emma Speight said that the transport agency was looking at managing disruption from both planned and unplanned events, referring to the ‘‘whole SH6 urban corridor’’.
Work was underway to ‘‘investigate opportunities and develop options’’ for an action plan when incidents occurred causing network disruption, Speight told the Joint Nelson Tasman Regional Transport Committee on Friday.
One thing that had been identified to help with disruptions was additional variable message boards which was something that Waka Kotahi was ‘‘going to keep looking at and working on’’.
Nelson mayor Nick Smith said he had been ‘‘quite taken aback’’ by the frequency of disruption on State Highway 6 and ‘‘the degree to which it just paralyses’’ the region.
Smith asked how Waka Kotahi, the Nelson City Council and the Tasman District Council could work together over the use of Kerry Marshall Drive through Saxton Field as an emergency link.
‘‘I would hate to add up the millions of dollars of disruption, and I’ve had emails from people whose surgeries have been disrupted, concern from accident specialists around it, and it’s just appearing so frequently that I’m really keen for us to make some progress on this.’’
Nelson City Council group manager infrastructure Alec Louverdis said this was something councils had ‘‘in the front of our minds’’.
‘‘Unfortunately, we keep on getting overtaken by important events such as weather events, but we are cognisant of the fact that this is very, very important, and it will include a whole range of contingency places, for example, using Kerry Marshall ... it is on our to do list.’’
Smith asked about a timeline. Louverdis estimated the issue would be looked at in ‘‘three to four weeks’’ time.
Smith also said in the recent disruption, he was told 30 four wheel drive vehicles went round the bollards in the gate that blocks access through Saxton Field, and that with social media, the word ‘‘got out quickly’’.
‘‘But my concern is if we don’t get something organised, I think we’re going to get an increasing problem of people finding their own way through which is not very satisfactory.’’
Louverdis said that had been noticed and needed to be addressed because it was not safe.
Speight was also asked by Tasman District councillor Barry Dowler if median barriers could be dropped by emergency services so those caught in roadblocks could turn around.
Speight said Waka Kotahi generally did have the ability to drop the median barriers.