Fast track subdivision plan sparks traffic fears
A large residential subdivision proposed in Stoke could add more than 500 vehicle movements during peak hour to roads residents say are already struggling with congestion.
Oakland Estates Nelson Limited’s application to create 580 to 740 residential allotments was quietly referred to the Fast-track approval process by the Government last month.
Richmond resident and freelance writer Adrienne Matthews said she was concerned the development would generate additional vehicle movements and intensify congestion on a transport network that was already struggling.
Driving from Hope to Nelson used to take 18 minutes, but now took anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour during busy times, she said.
When there were accidents on any of the major routes, people could be “sitting at a standstill for hours”.
Matthews said that before a development on this scale was approved there should be clear evidence that the transport network could absorb it without making an already serious problem significantly worse.
The Hope Bypass wasn’t going to “magically solve” local trips between Oakland, Richmond and Stoke, and a bypass designed to deal with state highway traffic was not a substitute for properly planning local growth, she said.
A high-level transport assessment carried out by Abley technical director of transportation planning Dave Smith found that the development would generate 518 two-way trips in rush hour.
Nelson mayor Nick Smith said the transport issues were “significant, but quite manageable”.
He said he had long held the view that Hill Street North needed to be connected with Suffolk Rd and the Ridgeway , and it was an anomaly that would have been done decades ago, were it not for the “artificial council boundary” along Champion Rd.
A link road there would provide a shorter route for people living in the eastern areas into the city, which would take the pressure off Salisbury Rd, Main Rd Stoke, and a number of busy intersections and roundabouts on that main current route, he said.
It would also provide an “ideal” new eastern eBus route.
Creating the link would come with a requirement to invest in the upgrade of the Ridgeway, which needed work regardless of the subdivision, he said.
Oakland was an “opportunity to bring it forward and do it well”.
The council would ask the developer to contribute towards the portion that they would be adding to traffic volumes, he said, but there would be a cost to council. He was hopeful of being able to secure NZTA funding.
Smith said in his time as an elected representative, the population of the region had grown from 70,000 to over 110,000, and the number of vehicles had doubled, yet the capacity and investment in the roading system had not kept up with that growth.
In terms of priorities, the number one priority was the Hope Bypass as the worst congestion point was Lower Queen St, he said.
Bicycle Nelson Bays convenor Bevan Woodward said if the council didn’t enhance walking, cycling, and public transport, then it would see a repeat of the terrible traffic congestion around Berryfields.
Woodward argued the city needed a better bus service, including bus clearways where parking on main roads was prohibited during peak hours, allowing buses to “whiz past” the traffic.
While many in the region were switching to electric cars, Woodward said they would make congestion worse, as people with electric vehicles drove them more because they felt guilt-free.
Urban areas went through an awkward “puberty stage”, where they transitioned from being small towns to proper cities, and from being car-orientated and highly car-dependant to having a more balanced transport system, he said.
“Some politicians want to hang on to being car dependent forever and can’t ever imagine us reliant on walking, cycling, public transport, and others can.
“It’s a painful transition and we’re getting close to hopefully waking up to the fact we need a really good public transport system, but we’re not there yet.”
The Oakland proposal’s transport assessment noted that the council had requested the installation of a shared use walking and cycling path along its northern site boundary, at the council’s cost.
Tasman mayor Tim King said it was impossible for a development of 700 houses to not have an impact on traffic flows.
A development of that scale would need two entrances, he said, so there was an assumption the suburb would likely connect at both ends, providing a third link.
His concern around that had never been the connection itself, but whether it would let NZTA “off the hook” from investing in the Hope Bypass.
The lesson from Berryfields, he said, was that without state highway investment on the core infrastructure that provided access from Tasman into Nelson, more houses accessing that roading network would exacerbate the issues.
“In an ideal world, more development increases the chances of [the bypass] happening,” he said.
However, an NZTA spokesperson said that the development was included in the future-year modelling for the Hope Bypass Investment Case.
It was considered that the impact of the Fast-track application on the case for future investment in the Hope Bypass project was “negligible”, they said.
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