SH6/ Victoria Flats, road intersection upgrade

Victoria Flats Road Intersection Upgrade — Safety Audit Gibbston Highway (SH 6), Queenstown Lakes District

ViaStrada was commissioned by The Cardrona Cattle Company Ltd to carry out an independent road safety audit of planned upgrades to the intersection of Victoria Flats Road and State Highway 6 (the Gibbston Highway) near Queenstown.

The site is being developed as "The Yards" — a mixed-use rural hub including a transfer station and trade services. 

To safely accommodate the extra traffic this development will generate, upgrades to the existing intersection are proposed, including a right-turn bay, a channelised left-turn slip lane, and the conversion of existing passing lanes into a slow vehicle bay further along the highway.

Our team reviewed the design plans and visited the site to assess how safe the proposed layout would be through traffic, rubbish transfer station trucks, and the tradies who will be the main tenants of the site. The audit followed NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi's Safe System guidelines, which focus on reducing the likelihood and severity of crashes.

The crash history for the area showed a pattern of loss-of-control incidents near the existing passing lanes, often in wet conditions — reinforcing the importance of getting the new layout right.

The key safety matter we identified is the risk of turning vehicles from The Yards conflicting with through-traffic on the State Highway. We identified the need to enlarge the left turn radius and suggested a RIAWS (Rural Intersection Active Warning Speed) sign that would lower the highway speed limit to 60 km/h when a vehicle is arriving on Victoria Flats Road.