10 August 2005

Transit New Zealand

Dom Post gets it wrong * Transit has NOT ruled out Transmission Gully

Transit New Zealand has not "officially ditched" Transmission Gully in favour of the coastal route option as alleged today in the Dom Post said Transit chief executive Rick van Barneveld.

"What the Transit New Zealand Board actually agreed at its meeting last week was to accept the draft Wellington Western Corridor plan as suitable for formal submissions and hearings.

"Further, the Board added significant conditions to be met before any final decision was taken on a preferred option," he said.

These conditions from the Transit New Zealand Board are:

· confirmation that the completed consenting strategy for a coastal highway route shows a reasonable prospect of success

· confirmation of a significant cost saving for a coastal highway route when compared with Transmission Gully Motorway at acceptable levels of cost and time risk;

· confirmation on the basis of short-term performance monitoring, that the Transit High Occupancy Vehicle lanes at Mana are predicted to perform satisfactorily over the next ten years

· consideration of the issues raised during the submissions and hearing process.

This decision was retained in committee until the draft corridor plan had been formally adopted by the Regional Land Transport Committee but it was now helpful to release it said Mr van Barneveld.

ENDS

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