A new temporary roundabout at the intersection of Ballantyne and Golf Course Roads may remain until the permanent roundabout for the intersection is constructed.

The painted circle roundabout was created overnight last week (March 6-7) in response to the increased vehicle congestion caused by current nearby roadworks and detours affecting Ballantyne Road.

Initially, the council said the temporary roundabout was aligned with current roadworks and would be removed in May after the detours had ended.

It has reconsidered that decision now.

“We’re currently monitoring the temporary [roundabout] solution and, if the results are positive, will be looking to retain it until we can deliver a more permanent intersection upgrade,” Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) media advisor Sam White said.

The new temporary painted roundabout at the intersection of Ballantyne and Golf Course Roads is proving effective.

The temporary roundabout cost around $5,000 for the road markings, signage and traffic management. 

The Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board has identified other congested intersections which would benefit from the same low cost, temporary solutions, including at the intersection of McDougall/Brownstown Streets and Anderson Road/Link Way.

However, similar temporary roundabouts were not being considered for any other intersections “at this stage”, Sam said.

He said council continues to work towards constructing a permanent roundabout at the Golf Course Road intersection, a design for which has been completed, but the project is subject to NZTA Waka Kotahi funding.

“[The] Golf Course Rd roundabout is now one of the top priority items in our funding application to NZTA’s 2024-2027 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP),” Sam said.

Council will learn if its application has been successful when the NLTP is published in September this year.

Upper Clutha roading projects: $10M budgeted 

QLDC’s Low Cost Low Risk (LCLR) programme this financial year includes more than $10M budgeted for roading projects in the Upper Clutha, each of which receive a 50 percent funding subsidy by NZTA, Sam said.

The recently completed “active travel” path beside Anderson Road cost $1.4M; an additional $450K was spent in a separate project to upgrade the Anderson/Aubrey Roads intersection; and another $430K was spent on traffic calming speed humps at Rata Street.

Also completed are the safety upgrades to both the Wānaka-Mt Aspiring Road and Wānaka-Cardrona corridors which cost $900K and $1.6M respectively.

Further rehabilitation to the Cardrona Valley Road is already underway and expected to be completed by May this year at an estimated cost of $2.2M and the roundabout currently under construction at the Riverbank/Ballantyne Roads intersection is estimated to cost another $2.25M

In addition to these projects, QLDC continues to work on sections of the Schools to Pool active travel route and expects to complete the intersection of Capel Ave-Domain Road in Lake Hāwea in April (estimated cost $1.45M), Sam said. 

PHOTOS: Wānaka App