Our Submission on the Queenstown SH 6/6a Roundabout

Queenstown State Highway 6/6a roundabout is in the spotlight to receive some stop go lights.

As part of a $115 million Queenstown NZ upgrade programme, Waka Kotahi and QLDC look to replace the BP roundabout with traffic lights, widen the road to include bus lanes and extend the Frankton bus hub.

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Waka Kotahi plans for SH6/6a

Waka Kotahi tallied 25,000 vehicle movements per day going through this roundabout.

It is a very busy intersection. We’ve all been caught out in peak gridlock times.

They have a focus on creating safer passageways but we, the members of Shaping our Future don’t believe they are going far enough for community empowerment, and that there are some considerable missing links.

Modal shift has always been an area that we’ve delved into when engaging the community. We’ve gathered public data on this for nearly 5 years.

1. “Better ways of getting around” Shaping our Future workshop Queenstown Session – July 29, 2021.

Let’s Explore better ways to get round – Shaping our Future Workshop – July 29th, 2021.

2. The Shaping our Future Frankton masterplan forum 25th September 2018

3. The Shaping our Future Queenstown Transport Taskforce Report 2017.

+ Shaping our Future was a submitter on the proposed District Plan Submission in February 2018 in respect of Chapter 29 Transport.

We note from the application: –

The primary objective of the Project is to improve public transport connections, active travel, safety and to accommodate future traffic demand on SH6 and 6A.

And

The recommended programme has therefore identified a mixture of infrastructure, public transport and travel behaviour change improvements for implementation.

When the SH6/6a roundabout plan invited the public to make a submission on their application, we had a good idea what the community wanted to see there.

In the application we supported the improved bus hub, the provision of pedestrian and cycle crossings at this busy junction.

However, in our submission we felt: –

The application does not provide for bike parking at any scale at the bus hub.
The proposal does not clearly depict how the project will improve connectivity /safety between the key east/west pedestrian/bike trails arriving at or leaving the junction.

In particular, we have concerns that the proposal will deliver a significant volume of active travellers onto Gray Street who will want to connect to the Frankton Trail.

The gradient of Gray Street is steep.

The exit path for cyclists basically leads to the cliff and at some point, decision makers might deal with the fact that there’s a path leading to a cliff.

There is no flow on effect in the project to address this aspect and we ask for joined up action so this gets addressed at same timeline not considered later down the track.

We submit that a more attractive and safer active transport route for east-west connectivity would be to utilise the existing trail from the Events Centre, through the golf course on an improved trail to the signalised crossing at SH6 (ideally replaced with an underpass) to the Frankton Trail via Ross and Mc Birde Streets.
We consider the opportunity should be taken to amend the NOR to enable a high-quality, and preferably under cover, paved access route to be constructed to the west of SH6 that links the Airport terminal with the expanded bus hub.

We struggle to see in the application what input or recommendations have been received from the Otago Regional Council in respect this project or if any such input or recommendations have been acted upon and we would consider the engagement to be inadequate in the absence of information around this.

Our submission aligns with the Lightfoot Initiative in terms of safety, connectivity, convenience

We will present our submission to a room of representatives on Tuesday 20th through to Thursday 22nd June 2023 with the hope they will consider our recommendations off the basis of extensive community engagement.

Wish us luck.