Collins Street and Church Square being used as shortcut

Reported in the Road/highway category by Felix Collins at 07:10, Tue 4 February 2014

Sent to Christchurch City Council 4 min later.

Hi, The roads around Church Square are designated as recommended cycle routes. This is presumably because they are quiet back streets that are safer for cycling. I go (slightly) out of my way on my cycling commuting route to cross Brougham St at Collins St for exactly this reason. Unfortunately, since the opening of the Southern Motorway, Brougham St has been experiencing regular traffic congestion at peak times. Now this does not bother me as a cyclist but what does concern me is that there are drivers short-cutting through Church square by turning left into Collins St. The Church Square roads are not suitable for large quantities of traffic as they are narrow, the road surface is sub-standard, there are traffic calming measures in place and a lot of local workers use it as a parking precinct. Often the short-cutting drivers drive aggressively and far too fast for the conditions, presumably in an attempt to beat the traffic on Brougham st and possibly because they are already frustrated from being stuck in a traffic jam. This creates not only a hazard to other drivers but also hazardous conditions for local pedestrians and cyclists using the cycling route. I recommend that the council investigate measures to reduce this short-cutting. Perhaps the Collins St intersection should be closed to left turning traffic off Brougham.

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