West Melton, west of Christchurch, has had its new traffic signals switched on after nine months’ extensive construction work.
The town’s first set of traffic signals are at the Weedons Ross Road/SH73 intersection, at the start of the route to the West Coast via Arthur’s Pass, in the middle of the fast-expanding town, just a stone’s throw from the primary school.
Chair of the West Melton Residents Association Tim Schurr said the project’s completion was huge for road safety. “You’ve fixed our town,” he said at today’s celebration.
The project marks the start of safer journeys through and around the Canterbury township and the completion of the 11th project in the Government’s NZ Upgrade Programme (NZUP).
James Caygill, Director Regional Relationships for Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, joined the Mayor of Selwyn District Sam Broughton as well as Council and community representatives and contracting company Fulton Hogan to celebrate the project’s completion, including a performance from West Melton School’s Kapa Haka group this afternoon.
The people who organised the petition to have the intersection made safer with traffic signals were also present, Pru and Ken Bowman.
West Melton school students Sophie Neville, Clark Emmanuel and Finn Sorenson, all aged 12, (left to right above) together with Mayor Sam Broughton and James Caygill, of Waka Kotahi, checked out the pedestrian crossing phases of the new signals which make it safer to get across SH73 on foot or by bike, scooter or walker.
“Previously it felt dangerous for school students crossing this increasingly busy state highway,” says Mr Caygill. “Now we hope more students will choose to walk, scoot or bike to school, knowing they can do so more safely with the pedestrian cross signal.”
As well as traffic lights, the project also required Fulton Hogan to build a new cul-de-sac on West Melton Road, a link road and roundabout connecting Weedons Ross and West Melton Roads, make changes to stockwater races, and build safe shared paths, for walkers and cyclists.
The $8.7 billion NZ Upgrade Programme aims to provide growing communities with better, safer transport choices. Including the West Melton intersection, there are now 11 projects completed nationally, with $2.5 billion worth of projects under construction.
Other Canterbury rural town centres also benefiting from intersection safety upgrades are Ashburton’s Walnut Ave/ SH1, completed late last year, and SH1 through Tinwald, now out to tender.
Landscaping for the SH73 project will be completed this winter.
