Plans for a major new highway north of Wellington – which have been in the pipeline for almost a quarter-century – have been sent all the way back to the drawing board, with construction now unlikely for another decade.
The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) announced on Wednesday it had re-evaluated the proposed $270 million, four-lane Petone-Grenada highway, which was put on ice shortly after the Labour-led Government came to power in 2017.
The agency still believes a new road linking northern Wellington and Lower Hutt is required, but it will need to be redesigned and funding for its construction will not be considered until 2028.
Emma Speight, the agency's director of regional relationships, said the overwhelming majority of trips between the two locations were by private car.
"In line with the Government's vision for our transport network, the redesigned project will be required to provide improved transport choice for these east-west journeys."
The Petone-Grenada highway was planned to tie in with the completion of both the Kapiti expressway and the Transmission Gully motorway, handling an anticipated 30,000 vehicles a day by 2031 and saving motorists as much as 30 minutes on return trips.
At one point, NZTA had hoped to begin construction this year.
But in 2017, the agency embarked on a re-think after an independent review of the planning to date found the highway could fail in an earthquake.
The review also determined it would have a significant environmental impact, and its $270m price tag could be closer to $1 billion.
NZTA said at the time the project would be redesigned with a focus on resilience, safety, and improving transport choice across the state highway network.
Then, in 2018, Transport Minister Phil Twyford unveiled the Government's 10-year plan for land transport, signalling a move towards investment in road safety and rapid rail at the expense of state highways.
On Wednesday, NZTA said the eventual timing of the Petone-Grenada highway's construction would depend on funding availability and other nationwide funding priorities.
Speight said the agency's next step would be to seek funding for a new business case, which would include working with the community and local government.
"We've also identified some improvements we could make to the existing transport network to improve resilience in the short-term," she said.
"We appreciate people's patience as we've worked through this important re-evaluation process to ensure our projects align with Government priorities."
'THEY CAN'T BE PUTTING EVERYTHING OFF'
Lower Hutt Mayor Ray Wallace said patience was beginning to wear for many Hutt Valley residents and businesses when it came to proposed roading projects along State Highway 2, such as the Petone-Grenada highway and Melling Interchange.
"This is becoming a Transmission Gully [type] issue, which took 40 years to rectify. That sort of timeframe is simply not acceptable. They can't be putting everything off for forever and a day."
A direct link to SH1 was crucial for alleviating already congested traffic, much of which carried commercial freight, at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, he said.
In particular need of attention was the Petone Interchange, which would serve as the eastern entrance to the link road. Wallace said Hutt City Council would be seeking a "proper fix" to the interchange, which had long been a choke-point.
Road Transport Forum chief executive Nick Leggett said the re-evaluated date represented an "abdication of responsibility by the Government".
Wellington's roads were congested, which hindered the efficiency of travel and freight transport, Leggett said.
"Petone to Grenada is the critical link going east to west in Wellington. It's important to people in the Hutt Valley and to the industrial area of Gracefield as a link to SH1," he said.
"It had the highest cost-benefit ratio of any roading project in the country and is of critical importance post-Transmission Gully to relieve congestion at Ngauranga Gorge, not only for passenger vehicles but to the road freight sector as they move goods in and out of the Wellington economy."
Hutt South MP Chris Bishop said the Petone-Grenada highway was an important project for the resilience and economic growth of the Wellington region.
"It's all bad news unfortunately. We've been waiting 18 months for a decision on the Melling Interchange and now Petone to Grenada has been cancelled."
He said the project was "basically dead" in the short-term with existing plans to be scrapped and no commitment to funding it for nearly a decade.