It appears unlikely Butel Rd, near Arrowtown, will be closed, with the Queenstown Lakes District Council yesterday recommending to instead put vehicle weight restrictions in place.
Situated between Millbrook Resort and the Arrowtown-Lake Hayes road, Butel Rd has been used recently as a 1200m shortcut by residents of Orchard Hill Dr and people working at Millbrook.
Concerns over this use have been raised by residents, including over dust and noise created by a large number of vehicles and also the danger of vehicles travelling at speed along a road with concealed exits.
Butel Rd residents wanted to replace the gate at the end of the unformed section of road, which was removed by an unknown party over a year ago.
When the matter last came before the QLDC infrastructure services committee meeting, resident Barry Bain pushed for the unformed section to be closed to traffic, as per a 1990s council resolution.
However, QLDC transport manager Denis Mander yesterday said closing the road was not an option as the decision would not stand up if it were taken to the Environment Court, as it would likely be.
"It would mean going to court as there are properties which rely on Butel Rd for access and it's extremely unlikely that the Environment Court would go along with stopping that."
The committee made a recommendation to the council to restrict any goods service vehicle, passenger service vehicle or heavy vehicle over 3000kg from using the road.
Mr Mander's report also suggested installing signs, bollards and "speed devices"in tandem with the restriction to discourage speed and large vehicles.
