While Fernhillians have been up in arms over Queenstown council completely shutting off access to Lake Street, rather than keep one lane open, council media man Sam White says there wasn’t any other option.
Lake St is used by Sunshine Bay and Fernhill residents, in particular, to skirt around the CBD and avoid delays on Shotover St.
But they’ve been experiencing daily gridlock since the council locked it off on April 26.
It has resulted in even worse traffic jams along Lake Esplanade to Shotover St, and through the CBD.
But White says contractors needed to excavate ‘‘multiple, deep utility trenches’’ across both Lake and Man Sts, meaning they had to close the former fully to provide enough space for construction crews to operate, and permitted vehicles to pass through, safely.
He says it’s ‘‘on track’’ to reopen by the end of this month.
