Drivers frustrated by the traffic congestion along Brownston Street should not expect immediate relief from the council despite a plea from the Wānaka Community Board (WCB) to mitigate the congestion.

Two Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) infrastructure projects have closed regular traffic access to two roads, forcing traffic to detour onto Brownston Street, causing backlogs at intersections.

Golf Course Road has been reduced to one lane as water pipes are laid down the road and the week before Easter (April 11) a section of Ardmore Street, adjacent to Pembroke Park, was closed for the construction of stage two of the council’s lakefront development project.

Wānaka Community Board member Chris Hadfield told the Wānaka App he believed traffic had not been too congested during the Easter weekend, apart from a busy Friday evening, but drivers’ frustration at intersections had been revealed with “impatience and a lack of courtesy”.

With no roundabout at the intersection of Brownston and Dungarvon streets, traffic backs up on Dungarvon Street. PHOTO: Wānaka App

There was an accident at the Brownston/McDougall Street corner yesterday (Monday April 18).

Last month, the WCB raised concerns about Ardmore Street being closed to all traffic for the next six months.

To alleviate the anticipated congestion, the WCB asked council staff to investigate installing roundabouts at Brownston Street’s intersections with Dungarvon and McDougall Streets.

Almost three weeks later, council staff are still investigating the option to install mountable roundabouts at these intersections, QLDC media spokesperson Sam White said.

The existing Traffic Management Plan (TMP) approved by council doesn’t provide for temporary mountable roundabouts, he said. 

A white painted circle at the intersection of Ballarat and Camp Streets in Queenstown has been operating effectively as a mountable roundabout since 2015. PHOTO: Google Maps

“Council staff have been investigating the use of such roundabouts at these intersections… and if [they] are feasible under a revised TMP then we’ll implement the new design as soon as practical.”

A temporary mountable roundabout at the intersection of Brownston/McDougall is not a new concept. Council successfully installed one in March 2019 when a trial ‘pedestrian zone’ closed multiple roads in Wānaka’s CBD.

Chirs Hadfield said council staff advised him last week that a full mountable roundabout was not feasible at the intersection of Brownston and Dungarvon streets due to the size of the intersection and proximity of the safe pedestrian refuges in the centre of the road.

Council has successfully installed much smaller mountable roundabouts in Queenstown, however.. 

In 2015 a white circle painted on the roadway was added to the intersection of Ballarat and Camp Streets, at the top end of the Queenstown Mall where hundreds of pedestrians safely cross. Drivers observe the rules of a roundabout, giving way to the right, while driving over the circle.