Motorists visiting Dunstan Hospital and Clyde from the south will likely have to go the long way in future, as a concession to safety issues caused by growth.

Poor visibility to the north at the intersection of Mutton Town Road and the Clyde-Alexandra Road (SH8) intersection has been deemed too tricky to remedy and with dozens of new residents coming,

Waka Kotahi Transport Agency are looking to close the intersection permanently. Land off Muttontown Road was rezoned from a Rural Resource Area to a Residential Resource Area through Plan Change 15, in June 2020. This allowed for housing growth and plans for the land include a retirement village.

Waka Kotahi opposed the Plan Change at the time, unless resulting road safety issues could be addressed and is now asking for feedback on its proposal to close the intersection.

Waka Kotahi Senior Safety Engineer Lisa Clifford says there has been one fatal and two non-injury crashes in the last five years at the site.

Visibility to the north is poor at the Muttontown turn-off, a problem Waka Kotahi say is too hard to fix.

“This intersection will only get riskier and more dangerous as the inevitable traffic volume grows at this site as a result of major land development changes envisaged in this Plan Change.”

She says the complexity and difficulties involved in upgrading this intersection cannot be justified when a safer alternative is available nearby at the Clyde-Alexandra Road (SH8) and Sunderland Street intersection.

“Safety improvements are designed for the Sunderland St intersection to manage extra traffic generated from future developments, including a planned retirement village.”

.

“We need to hear what people think about the permanent closure plan of the Mutton Town Road intersection and whether they have any other options for us to consider before we reach our final decision,” says Ms Clifford.

People can email their thoughts to [email protected] between June 1 and July 1 or contact the agency for a mailing address.