Three months, one lane, lots of frustration
Aro Valley residents are furious about stormwater work they fear will gridlock a major Wellington arterial route for about three months.
Seismic strengthening of a brick arch stormwater drain located underground at the base of Polhill Reserve will reduce Aro St to one lane, from tomorrow until June 29.
The street is a major link road connecting western suburbs, such as Karori, to the central city.
Resident Sarah Martin said she did not receive a letter explaining the plans and was frustrated about the extent of grey area around what the construction would involve.
‘‘The idea of the road being down to one lane for three months makes me worry that traffic queues will be horrendous.
‘‘Obviously I support essential infrastructural work getting done, but I would have expected much more communication with residents given the long duration of the disruption.’’
An Aro Valley Community Council Facebook member also shared his disappointment about the plans.
‘‘Three months of one lane? That’s not on really.’’
The chamber has been identified by Wellington Water as being likely to collapse and cause significant damage to the city in the event of an earthquake.
Connect Water Communications adviser Dan Ormond said a letter was dropped into letterboxes on Aro St and other nearby streets that were affected, as well as being hand delivered to businesses in the village.
Holloway Rd resident Miriam Busby said she was told the work would not affect her access out onto Aro St, despite the exit being right next to the construction site.
‘‘I think they really need to be looking at that road up above [Raroa Rd], because it’s got cracks in it [from the earthquake] and it could slip. They need to put retaining walls up there.’’
Ormond said the section of road would be dug up in order to reach the chamber, and would require a large amount of traffic control through what would become a single-lane accessway.
‘‘Lights will be installed to manage the flow of traffic and contractors will be monitoring the traffic impact, making adjustments where possible, to make sure traffic flows as freely as possible.
‘‘We believe that the impact upon traffic may be that it will back up for 400m during the rush hour and the average commuter will experience an average delay of approximately two minutes.’’
No resident parking would be lost in the process, but about four coupon parks next to Polhill would be unavailable during construction.