The combination of two new roundabouts, an underpass and over 300 houses being built at the entrance to Cromwell will soon permanently change the town’s outlook, with the timing of the first roundabout build soon to be confirmed.

A start date for work on the first roundabout adjacent to Nichols Garden Centre, originally set for spring, is not confirmed but an announcement is expected soon from Waka Kotahi(NZTA).

A spokesperson said yesterday the tender and details for the work were still being finalised. They could not confirm whether work would still begin prior to the busy Christmas holiday period. 

The plan was announced in March this year with an estimated $8M roundabout at the intersection of State Highways 6 and 8B expected to be under construction for four to six months and completed in early 2022.

The single-laned feature had been on the radar for some time due to the number of serious injury crashes and the upgrade was proceeding earlier than expected as one of the government’s Covid-19 response “Shovel Ready’ projects.

WSP infrastructure company’s senior transport engineer, Richard Hilliard, told the Cromwell Community Board in March that the design allowed for dual lanes to be added later. Modelling had predicted this may not be needed until 2040. 

The first of two new roundabouts being built to accommodate Cromwell’s ongoing growth.

The second single-lane roundabout at a cost of $7M at the entrance to the Wooing Tree subdivision is expected to be complete by mid-2022. The developers of the subdivision would fund this as well as a pedestrian underpass, according to Waka Kotahi. 

Stage One and Two Sold Out

Meanwhile the Wooing Tree subdivision – originally a vineyard – has proven popular with buyers from far and wide. It was first consented through a publically-notified process by Central Otago District Council in 2019. 

The approval included 210 residential sections and a centrally-located commercial area. The process attracted 48 submissions with some raising concern over housing density.

A subsequent application by the developer to the government’s Covid Recovery Fast Track housing scheme increased that to 276 sections with two business development ‘superlots’ being moved to the State Highway entranceway.   

These will be accessed via the new roundabout and underpass, according to a report by the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA). The government agency, responsible for processing the application, reported that the two commercial lots would contain a new cellar door and café and possibly retail businesses. 

An earlier part of the development, off Shortcut Road, was approved for 32 residential sections bringing the total for the 25ha site to 308. 

Harcourts real estate agent Steve Cairns said stages one and two comprising around 160 sections were now fully sold.

“It’s been a mix of buyers, stage one was more locals but stage two more out-of-towners. There were buyers from north of Auckland and right down to Invercargill.” 

In the first two stages of the development the section sizes range from 252sqm or one sixteenth of an acre, up to 731sqm, according to the development’s website.

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the interests of transparency we record here that our journalist Jill Herron was a submitter to the original Wooing Tree consent application in 2019.