When afternoon peak hour traffic descends on the Bowen Bridge, a dangerous situation unfolds. As residents commuting towards Otago and Brighton, we witness traffic queues growing longer and safety margins shrinking.

This particular stretch has notoriously become an accident hotspot. Drivers, faced with long waits, often seek risky alternatives – shortcuts and unsafe maneuvers – thereby escalating the risk of potential catastrophes.

Tragically, recent accidents have led to lives lost, occurring right here while people were queuing on the Bowen bridge exit ramp. We no longer want to see friends, family, neighbors, or strangers lose their lives or get injured in this all-too-preventable hazard.

We suggest that a simple yet effective fix for this issue could exist, one that could decongest this bottleneck, enhance traffic flow, and improve the overall safety of this stretch. Given the high stakes cost in human lives and safety, there's an urgent need for the local government and road authority bodies to intervene and to reassess traffic management strategies in this area.

We call upon them to urgently investigate these concerns and implement changes to alleviate the congestion at the Bowen Bridge's Eastern Shore exit, heading towards Otago & Brighton. Essentially, it's about transforming this stretch from a perilous bottleneck into a safe passage for all motorists. And its a fairly simple fix although we acknowledge there would be significant cost.

We believe an 'exit ramp' heading North on the Eastern end of the Bowen Bridge linking the bridge directly to East Derwent Highway would alleviate his situation. This would stop the need for all vehicles travelling north from having to cross a very busy highway and would alleviate the queuing traffic.

We acknowledge that the completion of the Bridgewater Bridge may assist in reducing traffic to a degree however this issue has been prevalent long before the start of construction of the Bridgewater Bridge.

NOTE: The image is simply an idea. We understand there would be logistical issues but also believe these could be resolved if this entire roadway way area was redesigned. There may even be a simpler way!

Please sign with us in asking for this life & time saving change. Sign this petition today.