Fast-Track, slow roads? 

Fast-Track plans for another 2800 homes along Queenstown's Southern Corridor are likely to cause a few headaches for transport planners.

Last week, it was announced that RCL Group's Homestead Bay development, out beyond Jack's Point, is one of nine Queenstown Lakes projects included in the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill.

Melbourne-based RCL splashed $70 million on 163ha of farmland, formerly part of Remarkables Station, back in 2023 and altogether owns 200ha there. The company has already developed the massive Hanley's Farm subdivision nearby.

But, while another 2800 homes is likely to make a major impact on Queenstown's housing crisis, it will also add significant amounts of traffic along the road.

Last month, Queenstown Lakes District Council strategic growth manager Anita Vanstone told councillors the new Kawarau Falls bridge expected to hit capacity within two years.

Around 1200 vehicles per hour travel across the two-lane State Highway 6 bridge northbound towards Queenstown in the morning rush, then return in the evening. The bridge, which only opened eight years ago, has capacity of 1500 vehicles per lane (in each direction) at peak.

"Under the existing travel behaviour profile, the Kawarau bridge will not be able to accommodate demand generated by the existing zoned development," Vanstone said.

NZTA Principal Transport Planner Tony Sizemore says they're aware of the problem.

"We are working collaboratively with QLDC and the developers to develop a plan for infrastructure improvements to increase capacity," he says.

"We are proposing to develop a Strategic Network Plan looking at the critical connections into and out of Frankton and on to Queenstown Town Centre with a particular focus on how to address the additional growth impacts, and this will include reviewing the Southern Corridor, and reconfirming the requirement for the currently unfunded elements of the existing transport programme.

"We are in a constrained funding environment, so this proposed work is subject to prioritisation of existing NZTA strategic transport planning activities."

A potential second bridge across the Kawarau has been mooted. There have also been shelved plans for a new road on the southern bank of the Kawarau, towards Kawarau Gorge, possible linking to SH6 at Lake Hayes, but both would cost many tens of millions of dollars. More direct active travel routes are also needed, say locals.

Sizemore says the increased demand from the Southern Corridor "only makes the upgrade to the BP roundabout more urgent", rather than redundant.

"This project is a critical element of the entire Queenstown transport programme as this intersection is the key node in the network and must operate efficiently for all modes of transport travelling through it."

RCL Group CEO David Wightman, meanwhile, says the development can enable Southern Corridor’s expansion through the provision of infrastructure works "to build out a community that is commutable and where people can live, work and recreate".

He says company decided on the Fast-Track process as the more conventional Resource Management Act processes have proved slower than anticipated.

"We think we can help demonstrate that quicker planning approvals do not need to come at the cost of the environment, the quality of development or the wider Queenstown area."

And he hopes RCL's track record of developing high quality neighbourhoods at scale in Hanley’s Farm "gives people confidence in what to expect at Homestead Bay”.