Traffic in ‘shambles’
Ashburton’s traffic is more shambolic than ever, and locals aren’t convinced new lights, or even a long-awaited second bridge, will get things moving.
The Mid-Canterbury town is one of the biggest chokepoints on State Highway 1. Twenty-two thousand vehicles cross the Ashburton River Bridge every weekday and more than 30,000 on weekends. The new government has promised to start work on a second crossing next year and two new sets of traffic lights have recently been installed to help flow from side streets, but motorists remain frustrated.
When The Press visited on Friday, many were happy to talk. Their observations included “screwed”, “a shambles” and “a safety issue”.
Neil Stutherbridge said the new traffic lights in Tinwald, south of the town centre, had only “moved the problem from one area to another”. “All the traffic is now banked up on the side roads. It’s an absolute shambles. “The lights haven’t eliminated anything.” Drivers waiting more than 10 minutes to pull out from side roads were a “safety issue”, Tinwald resident Charlotte Benger said. She had seen motorists take risks trying to get onto the highway. “Crashes nearly happen.”
Staveley resident Kate Frewen spoke to The Press while stopping for a pie at Tinwald’s Sims Bakery. “It’s going to take me so long to get across the bridge,” she said.
Ashburton mayor Neil Brown said the lights in Tinwald and at Walnut Ave, in the town’s north, weren’t designed to get people through faster. “The lights will allow residents to join [the state highway] more easily.”
The only solution to congestion, he said, was the second Ashburton urban bridge to take local traffic off the highway. The bridge has been promised by the government and work was to start next year. Brown said the plan was to begin as soon as the finances were sorted. “It’ll be starting within a year I would hope, and completed two years after start.”
Ashburton resident Darryl Whiting said the lights had “made it better” for traffic entering the highway.
Fewer drivers used side roads as a rat run before popping out on the main road, he said.
“Lights haven’t made it any worse. Probably hasn’t got a lot better either. Until we get another bridge, we’re screwed really.”
He said following pop star Pink’s concert in Dunedin last month – heavily attended by Christchurch fans – he sat in traffic for one hour and 45 minutes “to get across the bridge from Winslow” .“That’s the longest it’s ever taken, but can often take 20 to 30 minutes.”
Ry al Bush Transport driver Matt Johnson said the congestion cost truckies. They had log books to fill in, and “an extra two hours on a driver’s day can stuff it up”.
Ashburton District Council regional transport committee chair Peter Scott acknowledged the strain on transport. “When you see freight slowing down on the road, it’s just increasing the cost of that freight.”
Holidays and events intensified the problem, Scott said including bottlenecks over Easter.