Arrowtown's $150,000 road improvements get modest welcome

A New Zealand Transport Agency grant of $150,000 to the Queenstown Lakes District Council has produced some changes to Arrowtown's roads that have received a qualified welcome from the local business association manager Nicky Busst.

The main feature of the project is a 'surface treatment change' outside the Arrowtown Bakery. The concept behind the work is that the change in road surface will alert drivers to the fact they are entering a different type of roading zone where there are multiple shops and pedestrians.

"It's not quite how we envisioned it but I think in conjunction with a new speed bump in Berkshire Street it will have an effect on people's driving behaviour," Mrs Busst told Crux today.

She said that project communication had to be managed carefully in order not to inflate the consultancy element of the cost.

"We did get quite a little bit concerned on how much it was going back and forth because we didn't want all the money to disappear to the consultants, which we all know happens." 

Also included in the $150,000 was some extra signage and some changes to the local fire station corner, along with consultancy fees to Stantec, who managed the project on behalf of the QLDC.

The changes are part of an Arrowtown Masterplan and all of them needed to be part of a safety contribution in order to qualify for the NZTA minor improvements funding that went to the QLDC.

Mrs Busst says that locals are getting used to other recent changes such as the main street planter boxes and bike racks that caused a temporary storm of heated debate on social media.

"The main thing is that we want to keep the look of Arrowtown different to that of Queenstown. Everything should match Arrowtown designs, guidelines and aesthetics."

Main image: The 'surface treatment change' outside the Arrowtown Bakery on Buckingham Street.