“Intersections also need to function around stretches of highway with median barriers to ensure safe access to side roads, hence the need to investigate these key intersections to decide the best treatments .” The “investment proposal” document did not disclose what the funds for the intersection would be used for.
CHLOE RANFORD/LDR
The State Highway 6 and St Leonards Rd intersection is located east of Blenheim. The spokeswoman said if funding was approved in the next long-term plan, the intersection would be upgraded before the plan s end in 2024. But the project was “very much at the early stage”, she said. Forty-five crashes had occurred within 500 metres of the SH6 and St Leonards Rd intersection in the last 20 years. Two were serious.
Roading bosses are horrified that a dangerous stretch of Marlborough highway has again been overlooked for funding, after they first requested the safety upgrades six years ago.
Weld Pass is a notoriously winding stretch of State Highway 1, through hills separating the Wairau and Awatere valleys.
Photo: SCOTT HAMMOND/STUFF
Over the last 20 years, there have been two fatal crashes and 15 serious crashes along Weld Pass, south of Blenheim.
But instead of putting the notorious stretch forward for its next round of funding, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) proposed the already completed Ōpaoa River Bridge, its surprise State Highway 6 and State Highway 62 roundabout, and improvements by Picton s new ferry terminal.
Marlborough, Nelson and Tasman’s councils had been pushing for upgrades to the Weld Pass since 2015, estimated to cost $16 million, and dubbed it their “most significant project”. Vehicles had a “high probability” of plummeting off Weld Pass in a crash, made even more possible by the road s tight bends. “We have become a victim of the Government Policy Statement [on land transport]. The Government is prioritising other things, like improving cycleways and walkways,” Maher said. “If something is not done to that piece of road in the next 20 years, it will be like we re stepping back into the Dark Ages.”
Port Marlborough will look to borrow from its parent company, the Marlborough District Council, to build a new multimillion-dollar ferry terminal, to avoid going into a substantial amount of debt .
An artist s impression of what Picton s new Interislander terminal could look like.
Photo: Supplied / KiwiRail
The Picton ferry terminal upgrade was one of 11 projects fast-tracked by government in June to help stimulate the country s post-Covid economy.
The project - a partnership between Port Marlborough, the council, KiwiRail and Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency - was needed to accommodate KiwiRail s new larger ferries.
It was expected to create up to 200 jobs and take four years to complete.
While the project s four partners had not yet agreed who paid for what, the port expected to fork out for a new Interislander terminal building, wharf, and seawall, as these were on its land. Port Marlborough chair Keith Taylor told councillors at a meeting last month the port would need to enter into “a substantial amount of debt” to fund the proposed changes. “Port Marlborough will be looking to its shareholder the MDC [Marlborough District Council] to fund this debt for us,” he said. Taylor was speaking on the port s annual report, which declared the upgrades an “extremely significant investment”.