Main Road widening progresses

Plans to upgrade Main Road to three lanes from Ferrymead Bridge to McCormacks Bay is one step closer after Christchurch City Council today approved the project to proceed to final design, resource consent and tender.

Consultation was carried out in December 2010 on plans to add a third lane on Main Road, heading into town from Sumner, from the western end of the causeway at McCormacks Bay Road to just east of St Andrews Hill Road. The project will link with the Ferrymead Bridge widening project and aims to improve capacity on the road and maintain or improve safety for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

The three-laning project will also include an unsealed, four metre-wide shared path for pedestrians and cyclists, in addition to the on-road cycle lanes.

As a result of the earthquakes, this section of road and the seawall now need to be repaired. This work will be wrapped in with the three-laning project but will be funded from earthquake repair budgets. Further discussions with local groups were held in September last year, as a result of earthquake-related changes to the projects.

Transport and Greenspace Unit Manager Alan Beuzenberg says plans to widen the Sumner Main Road to three lanes aim to help ease congestion, both now and in anticipation of future use, for city-bound traffic in the morning peak time.

“The work also introduces a number of intersection changes and safety measures which will help make it safer, particularly around the intersections of Main Road with McCormacks Bay Road and Mt Pleasant Road which have been the scene of several serious crashes and near-misses.

“It makes sense to carry this work out now, at the same time as earthquake repairs. The road along this section of road has been severely damaged so we want to get on and make these repairs as soon as possible to improve driving conditions,” he says.

It is expected that the work will be completed in 2013. A resource consent through Environment Canterbury will be required for the repairs to the seawall.

Council also endorsed the principle of a coastal pathway concept for consideration in stage two of the Ferry Road/Main Road Master Plan.