Ferrymead Bridge plan unveiled
The much-loved cob cottage at Ferrymead will remain on its present site in the Christchurch City Council plan to strengthen and widen the Ferrymead Bridge.
More than 100 residents from the Ferrymead-Mount Pleasant area turned out to a public meeting on 14 July to hear the Council’s plans to strengthen and widen the bridge.
Chaired by Councillor David Cox, the meeting outlined for residents the Ferrymead Bridge Lifelines Project, which identified the bridge’s vulnerability to such natural disasters as tsunami and earthquakes and suggested two possible options to address this.
Council has adopted one of the options, to strengthen and widen the existing bridge, rather than build a new bridge to the south of the Ferrymead Bridge.
Residents have been asked to provide feedback on the plan before 19 August, 2005.
Residents at the meeting were shown computer traffic models of what the two options offered — adding the levels of forecasted traffic increases in the next 20 years. The option to work on the existing bridge made the most sense as it allowed for greater traffic capacity and was a once-only solution, compared to the alternative option, the meeting was told.
The alternative option would be to build a new bridge to the south to function together with the existing bridge, but this solution would only last until the next seismic event, which could remove the existing bridge.
The historic Cob Cottage will not be touched, except for its surrounding landscaping, which will be improved to enhance the cottage.
While the main aim of the bridge work is to strengthen it, most residents’ questions at the meeting centred on traffic concerns. In particular, the planned introduction of a U-turn facility vehicles coming out of Bridle Path Road towards Sumner was raised.
The plan aims to remove any right-turn option for cars coming out of Bridle Path Road. They would instead turn left towards the city, manoeuvre across two lanes of traffic to a bay in the middle of the road, where they would wait for a break in the traffic to make a u-turn towards Sumner. Such a U-turn facility is working successfully on Fendalton Road.
Council traffic engineers at the meeting told residents that studies of the Mount Pleasant Road-Bridle Path Road intersection indicated that very few vehicles coming out of Bridle Path Road turned right towards Sumner. They were, therefore, confident that the bay — which allowed for about three vehicles — would improve people’s ability to get through the traffic to go towards Sumner.
Some residents’ suggestions about ensuring that existing local walkways down Mount Pleasant be included in the plan, along with a proposal to include seats on which pedestrians could rest and more local artworks are to be considered by Council in its plans.
The resource consent-consultation phase of the project is expected to be completed by September, 2005, and the detailed design and tender approval process by September, 2006, with work on the bridge to begin about October, 2006, and completion planned for April, 2008.
• The deadline for feedback on this plan is 19 August, 2005. To have your say:
|
