A professional surveyor with 40 years consultancy experience in civil works and roading advised the Wanaka Community Board (WCB) there’s a much better solution to the Golf Course/Ballantyne Road intersection than the council’s current plan to introduce slip-lanes.

Wanaka local John Carter told elected members during public forum at last week’s (February 18) WCB meeting that a small flush mounted roundabout at the intersection would not only result in cost savings but would also improve traffic flows yielding “a much better and safer outcome for Wanaka”.

John said the slip-lane plan, already designed by council consultants [WSP] which comprised “not much more than the addition of a left turn slip lane from Golf Course road into Ballantyne Road, kerbing and some extra footpaths”, would not solve “the current conflicting traffic problems”. 

“My concern is that a substantial sum...will shortly be spent at the intersection with minimal benefits to traffic flows.”

The cost of the slip lane is estimated to be around $50,000 and John said the project was not optimising the expenditure of ratepayers’ money.

“I just don’t like to see a half-pie job,” he said.

Instead, he urged the WCB to request a rapid review of the current design and advise the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) that the board would prefer a traversable roundabout.

The proposed roundabout is overlaid on the current plan for a slip-lane at the intersection of Golf Course and Ballantyne Roads. IMAGE: Supplied

John said he was heartened by the immediate response at the meeting to his roundabout proposal by elected members Ed Taylor, Calum MacLeod and Quentin Smith.

Ed clarified that the type of roundabout proposed was similar to the one outside the Lake Wānaka Centre (corner of Lakeside Drive and Ardmore Street) in that larger and towing vehicles could drive over it.

He also confirmed that John’s plan would not encroach on the pedestrian/cycleway beside Ballantyne Road which is scheduled to be upgraded.

Ed said John’s proposal was in line with the board’s “future-proofing plans” which envisaged Golf Course Road “as a bypass road above town to get some of the traffic off Brownston Street”, complete with a major roundabout at that intersection.

“If this stacks up financially and engineering wise, I think it's a great idea to actually get people used to that being a roundabout and using Golf Course Road more than coming down Brownston Street,” he said. 

Calum agreed.

QLDC spokesperson Jack Barlow said the idea of placing a mini roundabout at the intersection was recently discussed by QLDC roading staff and designers but was not recommended by the designers “primarily due to issues around visibility, speed and manoeuvrability for large vehicles”.

Professional truck driver and local driver training instructor Lyal Cocks said there are three mountable roundabouts in Wanaka and two in Albert Town, all of which are traversed by large vehicles.

He said the proposed slip-lane at the Golf Course Road intersection would likely cause problems for left-turning drivers whose visibility can be blocked by vehicles waiting to turn right, as happens regularly at other dual turning lane intersections in Wanaka.