Nighttime road closures of State Highway 84 between the roundabout at Caltex corner (the intersections of Ardmore/Brownston/SH84) and Hedditch Street will cause some disruption over the next few weeks as the council completes stage four of Wānaka’s Schools to Pool project (S2P).

In an effort to reduce the disruption, Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) will only close the highway at night from 9pm until 6am while crews construct a median island and pedestrian crossing to connect parts of the pathway. 

SH84 closures will occur in two segments from the evening of Sunday May 26 through to the morning of Thursday May 30; and again from the evening of Tuesday June 4 through to the morning of Saturday June 8.

Work will stop over the King’s Birthday holiday weekend and SH84 will reopen for the long weekend.

The works began last Thursday (May 16) with Stratford Terrace closed to southbound traffic at its intersection with SH84 to construct drainage, kerbing, and parts of the new active travel pathway nearby. 

Detours will be in place to cater for the closure of three roads where they connect to SH84: Ballantyne Rd, Hedditch St and Stratford Tce. IMAGE: Supplied

Northbound traffic can still utilise the terrace, and part of the car-parking opposite Bottle-O should still be available, council said, but the southbound lane will remain closed until May 24.

“At times, construction is likely to create some noise and some additional vehicle movements on detour routes, but these night works mean we can greatly reduce disruption in the area,” the council said.

Detours will be in place using Macpherson Street, Ballantyne Road, Stratford Terrace and Russell Street.

This means anyone travelling up Ardmore Street heading towards Albert Town, Luggate, Hawea, etc, will have to turn around the roundabout, go back down Brownston St, turn left onto Russell St, left onto Stratford, right onto Ballantyne, left onto Macpherson and right back onto the highway - in the dark.

And because some of these are narrow, residential roads, heavy vehicles will have to travel even further, all the way along Golf Course Road and McDougall Street to make their deliveries in the town centre. 

The S2P 3m-wide active travel pathway is designed to link schools on the north side of Wānaka to the Wānaka Recreation Centre and swimming pool. 

Initial stages from Aubrey Road, through the schools and across Lismore Park are now complete. Stage four connects Lismore Park to Hedditch Street, across SH84 to Ballantyne Road and up to the signalised crossing point near the Golf Course.