The Government is forging ahead with an ideological vanity project, in the form of a cycle bridge over Waitematā harbour, at the expense of the day-to-day maintenance of local roads and state highways across the country, National’s Transport spokesperson Michael Woodhouse says.

New Zealand’s councils are $420 million short of the funding they expected to get from NZTA to maintain roads in our towns and cities around the country. Meanwhile NZTA itself is short $340 million it needs to maintain state highways.

“All up, the Government has short-changed the country $760 million worth of funding that should have gone towards maintaining our roads.

“This isn’t about building new roads, this is just making sure we can drive safely on the ones we’ve got.

“Instead, the Government has thrown $785 million to a cycle bridge in Auckland that will only benefit 3000 people, at best.

“Once again, everyday Kiwis are missing out because Labour’s transport priorities are all wrong.

“It’s just another slap to our rural communities. They’ve been hit with a car tax and now their roads will fall into disrepair.”

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