Govt to spend $250 million “fixing” non-existent congestion

Monday, 20 May 2013, 9:15 am
Press Release: Generation Zero

Govt to spend $250 million “fixing” non-existent congestion

The Government is constructing a $250 million motorway to relieve congestion, despite the New Zealand Transport Agency stating that the road has no congestion problems.

In emails obtained through the Official Information Act an NZTA official stated that “there is not a congestion problem between Palmerston North and Waikanae”.

The comment was made in defense of the NZTA's decision to not offer any financial assistance to maintaining the Capital Connection train route from Palmerston North to Wellington city.

However, the Government is pushing on with plans to spend upwards of $250 million replacing the current SH1 north of Waikanae as part of its $12 billion 'roads of national significance' programme.

On March 18th, NZTA lodged a consent application with the Environmental Protection Authority to build the Peka Peka to Otaki section of the Kapiti Expressway, which begins approximately 5 km north of Waikanae, with an estimated cost of $251 million.

The adjacent section from Mackays to Peka Peka was recently granted resource consents through the EPA. According to a leaked engineering report from BECA consultants, the $630 million project is projected to deliver $126 million in benefits, giving it a benefit-cost ratio of 0.2.

The ‘roads of national significance’ are described by the NZTA as “essential state highways which require upgrading to reduce traffic congestion, improve safety and support economic growth in New Zealand.”

Generation Zero spokesperson Louis Chambers says this is a perfect example of the National Government's irrational obsession with building costly new motorways.

“I’m surprised the Government is willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money, supposedly to relieve congestion and support economic growth, when their own agency claims that a congestion problem doesn’t exist.”

Chambers says that the National Government’s stance on the Peka Peka to Otaki expressway highlights their outdated ‘dinosaur’ transport policy.

“Instead of providing Kiwi communities with the public transport systems and low carbon transport options they are crying out for, the Government is throwing billions of dollars into uneconomic road construction, and locking us into a future dependent on fossil fuels.”

ENDS

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