Speed bump redo as vehicles bottom out near Lakeview

Neighbours of a recently installed speed bump where Glasgow Street hits Thompson Street in central Queenstown say they are hearing cars and trucks scraping the new road all hours of the day and night.

Thompson Street has recently been rebuilt as part of the Lakeview development, but this "speed calming" structure is understood to be part of a walking and cycling trail network that will eventually join Fernhill with Arthur's Point and beyond.

Bill and Kay Shaw have lived on the corner for 31 years - but they don't know how much longer they will be calling it home.

The pair are fed up with ongoing council roading projects, especially ones that are not done right the first time around.

They say they have been told by four different Queenstown Lakes District Council staff and contractors that the speed bump will need to be redone.

A spokesperson for the council has confirmed Mr and Mrs Shaw's information is correct.

The speed bump was not built to specifications and now a roading crew will need to return to the site to try again.

The plan is for them to extend the ramp on either side of what the council calls the "raised table", to achieve a compliant, flatter grade - and, fingers crossed for Mr and Mrs Shaw, that should stop vehicles bottoming out.

The QLDC specified and approved ramp looks nothing like the job actually delivered.

HEB Construction, the civil contractor responsible for the work, will be fixing their mistake, "at no cost to ratepayers", the spokesperson says.

The council is happy other similar speed bumps along the road put in place as part of the wider project have been built correctly.

The spokesperson says the "traffic calming devices" - like the one at the start of Glasgow Street - were installed as part of a project focusing on making Thompson Street more pedestrian and bike friendly to encourage active transport adoption.

In April, Crux reported on another redo of a roading grade gone wrong.

The Duke Street ramp is now fixed - but cost ratepayers $100,000 extra.

The slope onto a raised platform on Duke Street in the CBD needed flattening after it was also not built to specifications and vehicles were hitting the new piece of road.

The remedial work cost $100,000 - that time, with the ratepayer footing the bill.

Main image: The problem speed bump at the intersection of Thomson, Glasgow and Brunswick Streets.