Pages Road / Source: Ashley Campbell Christchurch Council deputation
A frustrated resident living in Christchurch’s eastern suburbs has told the Christchurch City Council to re-prioritise road works.
Residents have put up with flooded roads, broken footpaths, and potholes for years, following the earthquakes.
Greening the Red Zone founder and Linwood Resident Ashley Campbell showed councillors a video and photos highlighting the state of roads started by discussing Pages Road.
“Look at the water coming up through the middle of the road there. This is the main road from Aranui to New Brighton. While you’re watching this, think how safe would you feel if your only way to get from and to New Brighton was this?”
Campbell said it took more than 10 days for surface flooding to clear.
“This is what the people of New Brighton, or the people who want to get to New Brighton, have to put up with. And it’s dangerous it needs fixing.”
Pages Road / Source: Ashley Campbell Christchurch Council deputation
Campbell also highlighted New Brighton Road, between Lockley Avenue and Lake Terrace Road, showing video of uneven surfaces, patch-up jobs, and bad road works.
“This is a major thoroughfare, and if you’re doing your shopping at The Palms and coming from Avondale, this is the road you’ve got to take.”
New Brighton road patch up jobs / Source: Ashley Campbell Christchurch Council deputation
Maces Road was highlighted. “This a major industrial area in our city. People who work on Maces Road have absolutely no choice but to travel on this road.”
“It’s been in this state of disrepair for about the past ten years. It needs fixing. Businesses are thinking of moving.”
Campbell said she personally knew of at least one business in this area that was considering moving purely because of the state of the road.
“This just isn’t acceptable. There is no road in the centre of the city that is as bad as these roads.”
“I’m not asking you to spend more money on roading, I’m asking you to re-prioritise what is being spent to the areas that need it most, and I would be willing to bet that the east would be highly disproportionately represented among those roads.”
Maces Road / Source: Ashley Campbell Christchurch Council deputation
Councillor Phil Mauger said he and councillor Yani Johanson were trying to stop roadworks taking place on Gloucester Street, outside the Theatre Royal, which was expected to cost $3.4 million.
Mayor Lianne Dalziel, who’s been the mayor of Christchurch since 2013, said “I really wish a different set of decisions had been made after the earthquake, in terms of whether we should have lifted the road higher off the ground.”
