It was a case of no pain, no gain, when a six month roading project started to provide Ōhaupō with a crossing an appropriate parking. Retailers who felt that pain are now celebrating the gain. Chris Gardner reports.
Krystle Boyle, Gerard Mooney and Brett Anderson toasted the end of six months of traffic cones in Ōhaupō last week. It was a challenge for retailers as the roading project continued there is widespread appreciation for the final result.
Ōhaupō businesses are toasting the end of six months of disruption as the council installed a signalised pedestrian crossing.
Great South Road business owners talked of short-term pain for long term gain, with one claiming it had lost up to half of its income as Waipā District Council installed a crossing in the centre of the rural community.
The project started in November and finished last Thursday (April 18). It included the construction of three raised safety platforms to slow traffic, formalising carparks, and upgrading and moving bus stops close to the new crossing.
Ōhaupō Store manager Manraj Singh described the upgrade as “really good, making Ōhaupō a lot better” despite it impacting his family’s business revenue by between 40 and 50 per cent.
“There’s not much we can really do, but we have told the council,” he said. “It’s good that the upgrade is out of the way.”
Ōhaupō Bakehouse Café owner Sreymom Ty said she had struggled through the project and lost regular customers as it had been easy to pull over and stop.
“It was very hard,” she said. “We are pleased that they have finished here.”
She was grateful for the creation of designated parking spaces outside of her shop, but it had brought a new problem.
“Some people park here to catch the bus,” she said.
Sreymom Ty wants parking limits imposed on the spaces outside her shop.
Ty has asked the council to impose parking limits on the spaces and is awaiting a response.
Inspiration Boulevard Bar and Eatery suffered what business owner Natalia Robson-Bush called a “significant impact” as it closed for six weeks during the project.
“What can you do?” asked Robson-Bush.
She supported the installation of the crossing.
“Someone was going to die crossing to that dairy.
“It does look good. Now Ōhaupō has some love.”
Ōhaupō Caravans manager Grant Gordon said his businesses had suffered “a little bit of inconvenience, we had limited access to our drive for seven or eight days, but it’s all for the greater good”.
Gordon said the project team was good to work with and communicated its plans well with businesses.
“It’s all happy days, it’s great to see the end of the road cones”.
“It’s a really big refresh,” said Ōhaupō Drinks Station owner Brett Anderson before raising a glass with duty manager Krystle Boyle and Jacket Beverage Company owner Gerard Mooney.
He said there was never a good time to embark on such a project when there were 12,700 vehicle movements in Ōhaupō per day,
At times during the project traffic backed up from the heart of Ōhaupō to the school.
“You just deal with it. It’s good that it’s finished.”
Anderson’s business only lost 90 minutes of trading during the project.
“We were quite fortunate,” he said.
He was grateful to the project team for laying steel road plates outside his business allowing customers to pull over and park.
“They were really good to work with.”
He was also grateful for the way the community supported his business during the project.
Mooney described roadworks as “just part of life” and said he appreciated the result.
Ōhaupō Antiques and Collectables owner Jane Hurley said she tried to stay positive throughout the project.
“We had to shut down for two days,” Hurley said.
Hurley was impressed with the skills needed to lay a new footpath around her shop’s verandah posts.
“It was Ōhaupō ’ s turn, and we were last on the list to be done,” she said. “It needed it, as it’s an extremely busy road.”
But when the shop was open collectors still pulled over to browse and buy.
“Collectors were not put off getting into the shop.”
Sreymom Ty wants parking limits imposed on the spaces outside her shop.
