Safety improvements likely for highway between Timaru and Rangitata

Up to $8 million will be spent improving the highway from Timaru to Rangitata in a move officials hope will reduce a crash rate some call disproportionately high.

The announcement was greeted as a necessary new focus on road safety in an area where driver frustration and road conditions conspired to prompt drivers to take risks.

The $600 million Safer Roads and Roadsides Programme will tackle more than 90 high-risk sites on rural State Highways in 14 regions. Eleven of the roads are in the South Island.

Improvements to State Highway One between Timaru and Rangitata would be investigated from the end of this year and into 2017, a New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) spokesperson said.

At this stage, the estimated cost of construction was in the $4 million to $6 million range, the spokesperson confirmed.

Just how the road would be improved was yet-to-be determined but a suite of measures would be considered, the spokesperson said.

"Safety projects will typically include a combination of roadside and median barriers, curve reduction, rumble strips, widened centre lines, improved signage and road markings, shoulder widening and intersection improvements," the NZTA spokesperson said.

Such improvements were proved to reduce risk of head-on and run off-road crashes. Costs and a detailed construction programme would be confirmed after investigation and design work was completed, the spokesperson said.

Timaru District Council land transport manager Andrew Dixon said the council was aware the road had a disproportionate crash rate compared to other sections.

The council knew investigations were needed. The council-led State Highway One Business Case workshop this week discussed the possibilities, he confirmed.

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The Waimate District Council, Primeport, the Road Transport Association and the Automobile Association were part of the workshop.

The road was included on the government's list of "high-risk" sites but Dixon was careful in his characterisation of the road.

"It's not a dangerous road, it just has a high crash rate," he said.

In his opinion, more passing lanes ought to be considered as a measure to reduce driver frustration and the likelihood drivers would take unnecessary risks.

Rangitata MP Jo Goodhew said she had encouraged spending on roads where there had been frequent crashes and that she was grateful for the allocation.

"What I have been pushing for is for money to be spent on areas where there have been crashes and I know in particular in the Rangitata to Timaru area there has been deaths.

"I'm interested in any safety improvements that the experts at NZTA know, will lessen the likelihood of in particular run off-the road and head on crashes, those are the types of crashes that have happened on my road."

Timaru District councillor Kerry Stevens, who represents the Geraldine ward, frequently drove the road but did not consider it dangerous

That said, previous fatal crashes suggested safety improvements were needed and should be welcomed, he said.

"The most dangerous aspects of State Highway One are: the large volumes of traffic, travelling at 100 kilometres an hour in opposite directions with only a centre line for separation, and the mix of cars and heavy vehicles," he said.

The crashes of the past needed to figure in the way road planners tackled the project.

"I hope that NZTA thoroughly investigates the contributing causes to these accidents and then uses this evidence to make effective decisions which address the identified problems, rather then reacting to political pressure which may or may not deal with the actual root causes to the accidents," he said.

The Safe Roads Alliance work programme will also investigate safety improvements for State Highway One between Rakaia and Ashburton, and State Highway One between Oamaru and Dunedin.

The alliance is comprised of the New Zealand Transport Agency and infrastructure consultancies Beca, Bloxam, Burnett and Ollliver and Northern Civil Construction.

The alliance was established to deliver a programme of road and roadside safety improvements to the State Highway Network over six years.