Thursday, 23rd January 2020

Porirua Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the news that NZTA will be rethinking the ‘methodology and time frame’ for the Link Road and Kenepuru Drive roundabout.

“We are pleased that NZTA is rethinking how to best deliver a ‘quality product’,” says Heather Hutchings, Porirua Chamber Chair.

“The Chamber has been actively engaging with NZTA and Porirua City Council over the past two years and, after sometime, we are pleased to finally see some positive progress towards rectifying the design to something more suitable for today and tomorrow's traffic volume.

“NZTA has finally listened to the local community and data modelling that showed the current design just didn't stack up for current volumes of traffic, let alone any growth. A double lane entry would go some way towards immediate issues, but the chamber would like to see more modelling run for 10 years ahead.

“The current design had Chamber members concerned that a backlog of traffic was going to isolate the Kenepuru area and, at certain times, traffic modelling showed the link road would actually make it near impossible at peak times to get to one of Porirua business main commercial areas – the very last thing we would want.

“Changes to the design must happen quickly in order for phasing with the opening on Transmission Gully. We would also strongly urge that the construction time frame is made clear, as to date this hasn’t been well communicated, especially to those business directly impacted.

“We look forward to the changes moving ahead quickly.”

ENDS

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