Safety work for Moeraki turn-off

A raft of measures to improve safety at the intersection of State Highway 1 and the Moeraki Boulders road have been announced, including a system to reduce the speed limit on the highway when a car approaches from the side road.

The plans follow community concern about the intersection, where a Chinese woman was killed and several others were seriously injured in a three-car crash in November.

The woman was the fifth person to die as the result of a crash on SH1 near Moeraki in the past two years.

NZTA projects team manager Simon Underwood said the improvements would start before Christmas with repainting and making bigger markings on the road, and painting "keep left" arrows either side of the intersection. In the new year, the brown tourist sign for the boulders would be moved closer to the intersection, from 500m out to 300m out, and the give-way sign would be made bigger.

In January, further investigation and planning for a rural intersection advanced warning sign (RIAWS) would be done.

The RIAWS was a "comprehensive intersection safety system" where the arrival of a vehicle on a side road approaching the highway triggered the electronic display of a temporary 70kmh speed limit for highway traffic.

It also warned traffic about the intersection ahead.

"The implementation of the system is subject to some consultative and statutory processes relating to speed limits," Mr Underwood said.

"However, we believe this could be in place around April next year and have commissioned the planning and design of this system to ensure no delays."

Such a system was in place at the Kennington intersection with State Highway 1, north of Invercargill, where a man died in a crash in July.

In the wider area south of Herbert to Shag Point, more safety work would be undertaken in the new year and police had stepped up patrols through North Otago over the summer, Mr Underwood said.

The road policing manager for the Otago Coastal police area, Senior Sergeant Steve Larking, said police had already increased patrols in the area and were concerned at the number of speeding drivers they had caught in recent days.

"The one thing you can control is your speed, which in the event of a crash will determine the outcome for those involved and could be the difference between life or death. Police will continue to monitor this piece of highway."

Mr Underwood said high-crash-area signs might also be installed at several points along SH1 in the new year as an interim measure while longer-term safety solutions were worked through.

Other plans for SH1 between Oamaru and Dunedin, possibly including roadside barriers, improved signs and markings, road shoulder widening and rural intersection improvements, were part of a detailed business case still to work its way through the funding system.

Mr Underwood said the improvements at Moeraki were being made in response to concerns raised by the community and the Waitaki District Council, which wrote a letter in early December requesting urgent action on the road.

The news was welcomed by Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher, who said he was pleased NZTA had reacted now.

"There will certainly be ones who, understandably, will be critics, who said they should have acted earlier — I have a lot of sympathy for that. Anecdotally there has been a lot of issues in that area and obviously the crash statistics have ultimately proven them to be the case. There have been too many tragedies.

"The key for us is that they are doing something now — that’s just so important."

The RAIWS was "absolutely a must", he said.

"We want to make sure our people and the travelling public are kept safe — that’s the ultimate gain," he said.

"The sooner the better."