Fence revamp for ‘terrifying’ road
"I have grandchildren and I'm not 100% sure I would walk them along that stretch." Community board member Darrell Latham
A flimsy fence is to be replaced with a strengthened barrier on a ‘‘terrifying’’ seaside Christchurch route that was the scene of a fatal crash last weekend.
A sturdier alternative will be erected on Main Rd between Sumner and Redcliffs.
Maureen Imrie died on Saturday after the car her husband Bruce was driving crashed through a barrier the road and plunged into the sea.
The crash came a year after repeat drink-driver Sarah Arrow ploughed through the barrier and slammed into two pedestrians, seriously injuring one.
The latest crash prompted Linwood-Central-Heathcote community board member Darrell Latham to request an urgent meeting with Mayor Lianne Dalziel to discuss safety concerns, but he was told in an email that Dalziel declined the meeting as the matter was ‘‘operational’’.
‘‘I understand it’s her prerogative to decline, but we’ve had a loss of life and we need to address the issue of public safety and [the Mayor] needs to show solidarity,’’ he said.
At a meeting on Wednesday, Heathcote councillor Sara Templeton attended representing Dalziel and discussed the route with a team including council chief executive Karleen Edwards, Christchurch Coastal Pathway Group chairman Tim Lindley and traffic engineers.
They had agreed the bend at Shag Rock was a ‘‘top priority’’.
Council transport operations manager Aaron Haymes said staff were looking into safetyimprovement options.
Design work for pipe replacement and road resurfacing, which incorporates a new barrier on the problematic bend, was under way, he said. Work should be completed by the end of June.
Haymes said the straight section of road approaching the bend on the city side was also set to undergo ‘‘significant safety improvements for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians as part of the planned work on the Coastal Pathway project’’.
A temporary barrier would be erected in the interim.
The Hagley-Ferrymead Community Board asked to have safety improvements on Main Rd investigated last year and Templeton called for urgent action.
Woolston woman Olivia Clarke was one of the first on the scene after Arrow hit the two pedestrians last year.
Clarke said she was ‘‘utterly relieved’’ to hear a better barrier would be installed on the ‘‘terrifying’’ stretch of road.
‘‘We are finally walking on that road again after the crash, but we’re not easy about it.‘‘
Latham said it was ‘‘plainly obvious’’ that it that needed to be addressed immediately as there was ‘‘a very strong likelihood due to the water current in that area that if you drive in, you aren’t coming out’’.
‘‘I have grandchildren and I’m not 100% sure I would walk them along that stretch.’’