Six months of the alternative highway

Friday, 12 May 2017

The South Island has been stuck with the alternative highway as the main route for six months this Sunday.

For six months, the South Island's main road has rattled through sleepy towns on a surface never designed to deal with so much traffic.

The alternative highway, which takes State Highway's 6, 63, 65 and 7 between Blenheim and Waipara, has been the South Island's main road between Christchurch and Picton since the November 14 quakes. It is longer and more difficult to drive than the badly-damaged SH1 route it is filling in for.

Daily traffic averages on the alternative route skyrocketed post-quake.

For some towns, the extra business is good, but meeting the demand is stretching some to breaking point.

It is likely to continue until SH1, north of Kaikoura, is rebuilt. The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) said SH1 would fully open by Christmas.

Murchison Tea Rooms co-owner Erin Fetz said the business was 'absolutely stretched to the limit' to meet the extra demand from the road.

While the small towns on the route enjoy the extra business from traffic and road workers, it is putting a strain on some centres.

Sisters Claire McLellan and Erin Fetz own the Murchison Tearooms, on SH6. Fetz said the business was 'absolutely stretched to the limit' with the extra sales, but could not find more staff to help as there was nowhere in town for them to stay.

The alternative route is more challenging to drive than the SH1 route it is filling in for.

* Christchurch pair killed in crash on 'challenging' alternate highway as lower speeds mulled

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St Arnaud Gas and Alpine Store owner Elaine Richards said St Arnaud was getting 'huge improvements' to their roads they may never have got otherwise.

* Linehaul drivers quit due to dangerous conditions and inexperienced drivers

* Lower speeds on alternate route

Traffic volumes on the alternative highway are more than four times higher than they were pre-quake.

* 'The risk is fruitless' – police urge no passing on alternate SH1**

She said the road workers 'basically booked the town out' of rental accommodation.

The Murchison Mobil petrol station is busier than ever following the Kaikoura earthquakes as traffic takes the inland Lewis Pass route.

The extra traffic was 'good from a business side', but the number of extra things to be done was 'quite overwhelming', Fetz said.

As the kitchen made everything from scratch, they struggled to provide the extra 40 or so lunches for the road workers, on top of the demands from the extra traffic.

There has not been a fatal accident on the alternative route since March 29, when two men were killed in a crash Culverden.

'Basically our kitchens aren't set up for the volume we have to cope with.'

McLellan said she was 'always working' and might have to limit the shop's opening hours.

'Everybody's just pushed to the limit.'

McLellan said there were some positives, such as everyone in Murchison having a job.

Hampden Hotel and Commercial Hotel and Cafe owner Leigh Knowles has 27 rooms between her two hotels. She said road workers permanently booked about 16 of the rooms.

Knowles said she could rent them more, but needed to leave rooms for guests who were her 'bread and butter every other part of the year'.

Haven Realty Murchison realtor and Murchison Motorhome Park owner Karen Steadman said since the earthquake, anyone coming to Murchison pretty much had to buy a house as there was nothing to rent.

She said she was 'able to sell a house and job package, basically'

Steadman said there were two or three houses available for sale in the town, and they 'wouldn't be around long'.

She said there had been 'enormous pressure'

'If it wasn't for our active retirees going back to work, we would have been quite stuck.'

In St Arnaud, holiday homes have taken the pressure off accommodation.

St Arnaud Gas and Alpine Store owner Elaine Richards said their petrol and diesel sales had gone through the roof but they had problems with people not paying for their gas.

'It's a huge problem for us, we've lost thousands.'

By 11am on Friday they had already had two runaways. They were looking to set up a pre-pay system, which they had never needed before.

Richards said St Arnaud did not have the accommodation problems Murchison was seeing because workers there could stay in the baches.

She said some people did not like all the traffic but most were thinking about the 'huge improvements' to the road they may never have got otherwise.

Tasman District Council Lakes Murchison Ward Councillor Stuart Bryant said the extra traffic had 'been a challenge, particularly for businesses and particularly at peak times'.

The council had put in extra trash compactor bins and and increased toilet cleaning schedule in Murchison, and temporary toilets and rubbish bins in St Arnaud to cope.

In Culverden, the extra traffic has been good for business. Culverden Tearooms owner Marinel Tabayoyong said business was up about 25 per cent on average.

The tearooms had added two new staff to meet the demand, which they hoped to keep for the winter.

'We'll see how it goes, but when June strikes, we don't know what's going to happen.'

ROUTE NEVER DESIGNED FOR VOLUME

The alternative route was never designed for the traffic it handles daily. Since the quakes, average traffic in St Arnaud has gone from 372 to 1956 daily, with heavy vehicles leaping from 41 to 583 daily. At the Lewis Pass, average traffic has gone from 1246 to 3289 daily, with heavy vehicles going from 207 to 787 a day.

In response, the Government in March committed to investing $60 million into improvements to the route.

$48m of that has been assigned or completed. Of that, $21.6m has gone towards road rebuilding or resurfacing, and $22.7m for safety improvements such as road widening, guardrails and signage.

While the number of active roadworks sites fluctuates daily, there were 12 operating on Thursday. On some days there have been more than double this number of sites being worked on.

The NZTA estimate roadworks add up to 30 minutes to the journey currently, including delays of up to ten minutes at Howard narrows near Kawatiri Junction.

Journey manager Tresca Forrester said roadworks would scale back over the next few months, with a focus on keeping the road viable for winter. They would increase again next summer.

RISKS OF ALTERNATIVE HIGHWAY

The road is more challenging to drive than the State Highway 1 route it replaces. It has claimed five lives since becoming the route most traffic on the South Island used.

If fatal accidents continued at the same rate, the route will claim 10 lives in its year as the South Island's main road.

NZTA provided fatal crash numbers since 2012 from both State Highway 1 between Blenheim and Waipara and the alternative SH6, SH63, SH65 and SH7 route. The annual combined average road toll for both routes was 4.2 - which the alternative route has already exceeded since the earthquake.

AA road safety spokesman Dylan Thomsen previously said fatal crash rates could fluctuate quite a lot, and injury crashes needed to be considered for a clearer picture. Up-to-date injury crash statistics were not yet available for the period since the magnitude-7.8 earthquake.

Forrester said through the busy Easter and Anzac weekends, there had only been very minor incidents.

MORE POLICE, LOWER SPEEDS

Since a few days after the earthquakes, police had two dedicated road police based in Murchison and four in the Springs Junction area.

Tasman road policing manager Inspector Iain McKenzie said drivers behaviour on the now-busy road had been 'above average'.

'Sure, we have some isolated incidents of people overtaking in ridiculous areas or not having any patience, but overall, 98 per cent of the motorists have been fantastic.'

However, he said there were particular weekends where police did notice an increase in reckless driving.

McKenzie said towns on the route appreciated the high police visibility.

Temporary speed reductions from 100kmh to 80 kmh have been installed in several sections of the highway, brought in under emergency legislation. A bylaw to make these permanent is being considered.

Consultation on the proposed bylaw closed on May 3, with a decision due to be announced mid-June.

McKenzie said the reduced speed limits had 'certainly made a difference to driver behaviour'.

WINTER WORRIES AHEAD

The NZTA has changed the way it will manage the Lewis Pass over winter. It will be either opened or closed, instead of the old restriction system which banned towing or made chains mandatory at some times.

Forrester said the changes had been made because they expected more drivers with no experience in winter conditions to be using the route.

She said the last thing they wanted was to close the road to rescue someone stuck in the pass.

This meant drivers needed to stay up to date.

Forrester said the policy meant the road would close more often, but for less time.

She said the NZTA was 'really resourced up' and would have everything to clear the road ready around the clock.

Forrester said drivers should take extra supplies, such as food and blankets, when driving the road in case of a freak storm.