News

Do you have your e-mail account with Xtra (Telecom)? We have been contacted by many of our customers using Xtra who have not been receiving e-mails from us, or who have found our e-mails in their 'bulk' or 'spam' folder.

Xtra seems to again have problems with their spam filtering. Our staff have been asked to follow up with clients who have an @xtra.co.nz e-mail provider by phone. The Xtra spam filtering problem is beyond our control, as it is done by Xtra. There are some remedial measures that Xtra users can undertake.

Heidi Baillie joined the Dunedin office of ViaStrada on 16 February 2009 as a Planner.

We're keen to demonstrate our support for sustainable transport and liveable cities by participating in Bike Wise once again.

Most of our staff will cycle during the month, and many already are regular bike commuters. Last year we were in the 7-24 staff category; this year we're competing with the bigger boys (and girls) in the 25-99 category. And did you know that Bike Wise won the ViaStrada Award for Cycle-Friendly Commitment by a Public Organisation last year?

ViaStrada prepared and lodged a resource consent application for a large new church facility for Lincoln Baptist Church on the outskirts of Lincoln.  The proposed development includes a 500 seat auditorium, an office block and meeting rooms, a cafe, a new preschool, a multi-purpose youth facility, a 'Kids for Christ' centre, and ancillary areas of car parking and landscaping.

Resource consent has been approved for the $120m redevelopment of the former Feltex Carpets factory site in Ilam, Christchurch.  A decision on the application prepared by ViaStrada was issued on January 29, 2009 and with no appeals to the Environment Court, the path is clear for detailed design and construction of the development.  

Sue McAuley will join the Nelson office of ViaStrada on 2 March 2009 as a Traffic Planner.

We've published newsletters in each of the last three months of 2008.  Our final one had some gremlins at work and our system seemed to go on holiday before we did on 24 December, when we thought we'd published the newsletter. We discovered that the issue was still stuck in cyberspace early in the New Year and when we liberated it, other technical problems occurred.  Our IT guys are working on it and we should be looking better next time (around the end of January).

The IPENZ Transportation Group's membership magazine Roundabout got delayed and the December 2008 issue (# 119) will be posted in January. If you are a Transportation Group member and were eagerly awaiting the magazine's arrival, attached is an electronic version.

Welcome to ViaStrada’s new website. The same content as previously is now provided with a better look and feel. There’s a great team of people behind the scenes making this happen, and we would like to acknowledge them:

Season's greetings to all our clients, colleagues and peers from the ViaStrada team. We hope you all have a relaxing break, and a safe, enjoyable and healthy 2009.