Queenstown businesses taking hit as $250m roading project ramps up

With customers having to navigate a maze of road closures and construction fences, businesses in a Frankton block at the centre of a huge roading upgrade project are taking a hit.

The Gray Street shops are for now bearing the brunt of much of construction work underway as part of a four-year, $250-million investment in the area to improve traffic flows.

On the cards, replacing the roundabout at the intersection of State Highways 6 and 6A with traffic lights and extending the neighbouring bus hub, and, further down the road, putting in a roundabout at the intersection of State Highway 6 and Howards Drive.

Gray Street businesses are seeing fewer customers as roading crews work outside their entrances.

Trudy Munro, the owner of sewing workroom Nemo, says her revenue has taken a 40 percent dive within the last three weeks.

"We're hopeful that it won't continue that way, and we can pull it back.

"It's pretty horrendous."

Adding to her pain, her business had been on the market, but now she is thinking she needs to wait until circumstances around her improve.

Ms Munro has no complaints about the care shown by crews on the tools.

"The people on the ground doing the work are amazing and very communicative and doing their best to keep us informed."

But in her view the worksite can still be unpredictable - things happen faster than anticipated or there is a change in plan - and that makes keeping up with communication - between those managing the site and in turn between her and her customers - challenging.

"That's the frustrating thing, because it's such a massive project, it's absolutely huge, it's a changing landscape all the time.

"From the highway, it looks like, 'how the hell do you access it?'"

She says the easiest way for now to reach her store is from the direction of the pharmacy, which faces the highway.

"So we'll keep that as our main message. We are just trying to look at what signage we can get happening to help. We're going to have to do that ourselves."

A few doors down at QueensMart grocery store, Marveli Mongia and her family are also struggling with the upheaval brought by the road works outside their premises.

"It's been very, very difficult. We've seen a huge drop in sales.

"Literally overnight we had the facing that went up in from of the shop...All the car parks have gone."

Gray Street is open for business - even if it doesn't look that way from the highway.

Ms Mongia says the disruption to regular foot traffic just six months on from opening has forced them to finds ways to innovate.

"We've lost a number of clients because there has been no clear passage to come into the shop, so we've done a lot of social media work to let people know that we are open."

They are also offering free delivery options to help maintain their fledgling client base.

"We're still figuring this whole thing out."

Sandwiched between the two businesses is Awanui Labs.

Ms Mongia says users, often elderly, are having to navigate uneven ground to find their way to the laboratory.

Meanwhile Ms Munro says she has watched contractors physically help people access it, and she has appreciated that kindness shown.

The works are being delivered for the New Zealand Transport Agency via the Kā Huanui a Tāhuna Alliance in partnership with the Queenstown Lakes District Council and private design and construction companies Beca, WSP, Downer New Zealand and Fulton Hogan.