Road safety  |  4 Jul 2022

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More work to improve the safety of Dyers Pass Road will start on Sunday 10 July.

Christchurch City Council has awarded Higgins a contract to install safety barriers at several more high-risk locations between Governors Bay and Sign of the Takahe.

The work follows the installation of more than 2.5km of safety barriers on Dyers Pass Road in 2021.

“The current Long Term Plan has budget available so that we can make several more high-risk areas of Dyers Pass Road safer,’’ says Council Head of Transport Lynette Ellis.

“By the time we finish this next phase of work, we’ll have safety barriers on around 75 per cent of Dyers Pass Road which should make the road much safer for everyone.’’

Ms Ellis says the Council is very aware of the disruption and frustration caused by the work on Dyers Pass Road last year so it is taking a different approach to the second stage of works.

“We’ll only have two work sites underway at a time which means there won’t be several sets of temporary traffic signals and work sites close together. We are also starting the work outside of the busy summer period when there are less cyclists and recreational users on the road.’’

The work will start as night work from Sunday to Friday. Dyers Pass Road will be closed between 7.30pm and 6am starting from Sunday 10 July. Night works will continue for the duration of the project, which is expected to be completed in December.

As well as planning the work differently, the team will be using some smarter traffic signals and will have electronic travel time signs at key locations to help people decide the best route to take.

Work that is likely to cause significant disruption to traffic flows, such as use of large excavators and concrete pours, will be done at night to reduce the impact on daytime traffic.

“It’s not an easy task to work on a steep, narrow and windy road so for the safety of the crews working on the road we ask that people driving or biking over Dyers Pass Road respect the traffic management that will be in place over the next few months,’’ Ms Ellis says.

“Our contractor will be doing their best to minimise the disruption, but people travelling on Dyers Pass Road should factor an extra 20 minutes into their travel times and, if possible, use the Lyttelton Tunnel or Gebbies Pass rather than Dyers Pass Road,’’ Ms Ellis says.