Road to nowhere: nine benches to one intersection

QLDC's roading alliance have outdone themselves at least on one front - benches. Nine benches to be precise at one intersection of the $128 million "road to nowhere."

The benches appear to be placed with little to no thought of real people actually using them - facing in bizarre directions - and reminiscent of the famous bench installed near Lakeview that appeared to refuse to recognise the laws of physics.

A QLDC bench installation near Lakeview - not meant for human use?

The Lakeview benches cost between $3000 and $6,000 (including installation) but the nine new benches at the intersection of Sydney and Melbourne streets look to be a slightly lower spec. Even allowing for that, and installation, ratepayers seem unlikely to get any change out of $50,000 for these new benches.

One nearby resident, Sue Knowles, told the Mountain Scene "It's gone mad" with an alliance spokesperson saying the benches are there because "there is access to this intersection from all directions" and "the benches have been put there to promote the use of this intersection as a key access point to Queenstown Hill."

The placement of the benches defies any logical pattern - perhaps they were ordered by mistake?

Elsewhere on the arterial road this morning when Crux visited there was a relative hive of activity as extra people in high vis clothing stood around looking at drainage holes and laid fresh grass. It almost looked as though the project was being pushed for an early opening?