Palmerston North's Vaughan Dennison: Improvements to traffic flow on way

Palmerston North is a major national distribution hub, with freight movements through Manawatū much larger than many realise, city councillor Vaughan Dennison says. Photo / PNCC

OPINION:

Good things really can take time.

Decades after the land was first set aside, Palmerston North's inner-city ring road is finally going to be completed.

The long-awaited missing link along Ferguson St between Linton and Pitt streets will soon be four-laned and include a set of traffic lights at the tricky Pitt St intersection.

Council officers recently secured Waka Kotahi funding for this project and can now complete the detailed design, as well as engage directly with affected property owners before putting the project out for tender.

You may be surprised to learn the land for the road widening has been designated since 1969.

Unfortunately, improvements to the carriageway and intersection repeatedly missed out on subsidies from Waka Kotahi and its predecessors. Back in early 2011, I remember attending the opening of Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School's new Linton St entranceway relocated from the original gate that fronted busy Ferguson St.

At the time – a full decade ago - it seemed the road widening work would soon follow, but as you know, conversion of Ferguson St's east side has remained on hold.

From a safety perspective - particularly around the active transport provision at the intersection – this announcement is great news, while completion of the inner-city ring road will bring about major improvements to city traffic flow.

Another of the key safety improvements highlighted within the latest transport network safety report, and now being progressed with the support of Waka Kotahi, is the closure of the Roberts Line/Railway Rd intersection.

As this junction crosses the railway line, the council is now engaging with KiwiRail over the changes. Last year, two young doctors were tragically killed at this site after their vehicle collided with a truck.

This escalated concerns and calls for safety improvements to be made along Railway Rd with its high vehicle counts and heavy traffic volumes.

More than 3250 people signed a petition, while several people called for speed restrictions and for closure of the Roberts Line access to be considered.

Their campaigning has now borne fruit. Palmy is a major national distribution hub, with the logistics sector and freight movements through Manawatū much larger than many realise.

Our strategic location sees large investment being made to help grow the sector and create more jobs, meaning heavy traffic movements are only going to increase.

As chairman of the council's infrastructure committee, I'm pleased safety concerns over these busy city intersections are at last being addressed.

• Vaughan Dennison is a Palmerston North city councillor.