Gorge Road Upgrade underway after easter

Stage one of the Gorge Road upgrade will get underway in earnest after Easter, Queenstown Lakes District Council utilities committee chairman John Mann said.

“The first part of the upgrade will cover an area of 400 metres, prior to winter and 1.2 kilometres, after winter,” Mr Mann said. The upgrade included an improved and widened walkway and cycleway alongside Gorge Road.

“Eventually this project will see a dedicated, 2.2 metre wide cycle and walkway from the wetland all the way through to the Edith Cavell (Shotover) bridge,” Mr Mann said.

Part one would be followed next year with the second part of the upgrade from the bridge to McChesney Road.

“The upgrade will involve fairly major earthworks and road construction so we are looking at some delays while the various stages are underway,” Mr Mann said.

At times single lane traffic management would be required, which translated to traffic delays at peak times of between 5-10 minutes.

“Once the project is underway proper, from Thursday next week, we would recommend people seek an alternate route if at all possible,” Mr Mann said.

Priority would be given to school buses in the mornings and afternoons.

“We have had a lot of work underway in this area, including Robins Road and maintenance and vegetation clearance on Gorge Road, which are now complete. The end result will be a safer and vastly improved entranceway to Queenstown, so we do ask for patience,” Mr Mann said.

Part of the work post winter will include beautifying and landscaping the road reserve area.

“There are two reasons why the vegetation has been cleared, first to improve shading and safety during winter and secondly because the road will be widened,” Mr Mann said.

Contractors were ‘tidying’ the cleared vegetation as best they could but it was important to leave roots in the ground through winter to continue to hold banks in place.

Contractors would do their best to mitigate delays to peak time traffic but at the end of the day they had a job to deliver.

“Gorge Road is a main arterial route into the town, it has been crying out for an upgrade and I know the end result will be a great improvement,” Mr Mann said.