The four kilometre mostly unsealed portion of Ballantyne Road, starting from SH6, is closed to through traffic for the next six months as work began yesterday (Thursday, December 3) to upgrade the road. 

The $6.4M joint project between the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) to increase the safety of the road will feature a number of improvements, including sealing, widening to provide a one metre shoulder, and better drainage.

Trees will also be removed from the road reserve to accommodate the changes and Aurora will relocate 40 power poles. 

“The community has lobbied for this road to be improved for a long time,” QLDC property and infrastructure general manager Peter Hansby said.  

“The work will address a number of safety issues such as inconsistent surfacing, limited driver sight lines, a lack of road markings and narrow roadways. Getting started on this important upgrade is a big milestone and a fantastic outcome for the Wanaka community,” he said. 

Ballantyne Road will be widened and sealed, trees will be removed and 40 power poles will be relocated.

Peter said some disruption is an inevitable part of delivering a major infrastructure upgrade and that contractors would be working to minimise this wherever possible. 

“Our contractors will ensure access is maintained for residents living along Ballantyne Road (including those on Boundary and Morris Roads) and essential services over this period.

“For all others a detour will be in place via Riverbank Road and SH6,” he said. 

Peter acknowledged the road closure would be inconvenient for regular users of the road but requested the “community’s patience” as it would take approximately six months to complete the project.

“We’ll also be working with Chorus, Spark and Vodafone to facilitate planned future network upgrades between Wanaka and Luggate and avoid works on the upgraded road at a later date,” he said.

Wanaka Community Board member Ed Taylor, who has been involved in this project together with the Mt Barker Residents' Association, said it’s taken years to get to this point but he was pleased to see Fulton Hogan contractors making progress on Ballantyne Road.

He said the upgrade plan requires some private fences to be removed alongside the road, some of which were found to have been incorrectly erected on road reserve. 

Ballantyne Road is often used as a bypass between Wanaka Airport and the Cardrona Valley, and community requests for the road to be improved were first raised almost 20 years ago.

A business case for the road’s upgrade was first submitted by the QLDC to the NZTA in 2016 before 17-year-old Jackson James (“JJ”) Aitchison was killed on Ballantyne Road after his car left the road and collided with a tree. 

PHOTOS: Wanaka App