Spruce-up plan for city's southern gate

BEAUTIFYING the southern entrance to the city is on the Wanganui District Council agenda when it meets on Monday.
The need to upgrade the SH3 route - from Marybank to the city side of Cobham Bridge - was promoted last year by Mayor Michael Laws, and he has cast this in a recommendation to Monday's full council meeting.
If it gets support, the next step would see council initiate a project with Transit New Zealand and other interested parties to provide "an attractive and functional entranceway" from Marybank Rd to Liffiton St on SH3.
It would include roundabout signage at the Liffton St-Heads Rd intersection directing travellers towards the city centre.
In a report to the ouncil, policy analyst Clive Aim said all three state highway entrances to Wanganui had been under discussion for a number of years.
Work had previously been done on the southern entrance over the Cobham Bridge. This had included landscaping as well as developing walkways associated with the clip-on cycle lane.
The design would involve a number of parties because it was a matter of some public interest, and members of the Putiki community have expressed a "strong interest" in contributing to the design.
Transit NZ has planned for a roundabout at the SH3-Wikitoria Rd intersection and that work has been approved. However, it has yet to appear on Transit's roading programme.
The roading authority had also removed poplar trees south of the bridge and has begun a rolling programme to close in the deep open drains along both sides of the state highway.
Mr Laws termed the current entrance "appalling," suggesting it was "sabotaging" the city's promotional and tourism efforts.
"It's the worst possible advertisement for our city," he said.
"There's the dangerous Putiki corner with its scungy surrounds, an unattractive bridge and the industrial land either side of the Cobham Bridge exit."
He had held informal talks with local Transit NZ officials, but the council needed to approve the entranceway project before any further action could be taken.
"This is not a big-budget item. It's a co-operative relationship with Transit NZ and a beautification programme," Mr Laws said.