Wednesday, Dec 28, 2016
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Traffic crawls along West Street yesterday.
PHOTO MATT MARKHAM/ASHBURTON GUARDIAN
Traffic snarls renew calls for new bridge BY MICHELLE NELSON
MICHELLE.N@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Calls to get cracking with building another bridge across the Ashburton River flooded social media channels yesterday, fuelled by a long backlog of southbound traffic. A minor crash on the intersection of State Highway One and Wilkins Road in Tinwald at about 11am compounded the problem for motorists.
Traffic slowed to a crawl and was reportedly backed up as far north as Fairton and the delays were not confined to West Street. East Street was also impacted by high volumes of traffic, forcing the CBD into gridlock for a time. One woman said it had taken her 40 minutes from Robert Harris Café on West Street to the bridge. Motorists reported heavy slow moving traffic from Christchurch throughout the morning.
“From Rolleston south it was bumper-to-bumper all the way to Ashburton,” a driver said. “It was moving but very slowly. There were some idiots on the passing lanes but most people were considerate.” By midafternoon conditions had improved, however, traffic remained heavy through the township. Despite the volumes no serious crashes had been reported in Mid
Canterbury as of yesterday afternoon, however police and New Zealand Transport Agency have advised staggering journeys and staying away from hotspots were key to ensuring safe journeys. National manager road policing Superintendent Steve Greally said summer was a “really high-risk time on our roads”. The national holiday road toll sat at nine last night. Three teenagers died in Leeston
on Boxing Day after a car driven by a 14-year-old boy became airborne and crashed into a tree. Speed was thought to have been a factor. The official holiday road toll count runs from 4pm on Friday December 23 to Wednesday January 4, and fatalities already number more than half of last year’s total with a week to run. A reduced speed threshold of 4km/h over the limit is in force during December and January.
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