Milton main street upgrade set to begin
A mammoth project to upgrade aged infrastructure underneath Milton’s main street is about to begin.
Clutha District Council is investing $6 million to replace old water, stormwater and wastewater pipes on Union Street, between High Street to Abercrombie Street, as well as undergrounding overhead powerlines.
Clutha District Mayor Bryan Cadogan says “This project will replace critical infrastructure that has come to the end of its life. It also gave us the opportunity to upgrade pipe capacity, addressing long-standing flooding issues and allowed us to plan for future growth in Milton – an area I think has huge potential.”
He acknowledged that the disruption caused by the work will be frustrating for some people, and businesses in-particular.
“I ask people to bear with us, we’ll be doing everything we can to minimise the impact of this important work. If anyone has a complaint, please get in touch so we can work to address it.”
Work will take more than a year and will be completed in 50 metre sections to minimise disruption to residents, retailers and motorists as much as possible. However, some disruption is unavoidable.
Council Group Manager Service Delivery, Jules Witt, says “The pipes being replaced run either under the road or footpath so unfortunately this means there is an unavoidable impact. There will be reduced parking, stop-go on the main street and short detours for light traffic. We recognise that businesses will be most affected, so the work is being done in sections to reduce the amount of time they’re disrupted.”
The work is complex due to the location of pipes, and how much pipework is being upgraded. A business may be disrupted three times over the year, as it’s not possible to replace all infrastructure at the same time.
Due to the alternative routes, it’s not possible to detour heavy traffic so only light vehicles will need to be briefly detoured. Motorists are advised to add around 7 minutes to their travel time to allow for any delays.
Work on the main street starts in early July. Prior to this stormwater work starts at the High Street pump station on 19 June and wastewater pipes will be replaced in Ossian Street from 3 July.
Local contractor, Andrew Haulage (2011) Ltd is undertaking the pipe replacement work, while undergrounding of powerlines will be completed by PowerNet.
Mr Witt says “When there is work outside a business it will see a temporary loss of parking directly outside for around a week. We’ll be working to ensure there is still plenty of parking in the wider area and there will still be pedestrian access to shops.”
The Milton Streetscape landscaping is a separate project and, along with a new footpath, this will be completed in the future.
People can stay up to date with this project by visiting the council website which has questions and answers, detour maps and more information about this project.
