Driving the economy
Transmission Gully, as it was when Transporting New Zealand visited it a year ago
COVID must not hold up essential infrastructure developments C by Nick Leggett Chief Executive Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand
YNICALLY RELEASED ON A SATURDAY morning and buried amongst blanket news coverage of Auckland’s Delta outbreak was the Government’s announcement that they had scrapped the bike bridge over the Waitemata Harbour as part of Auckland’s Northern Pathway Project. Despite already spending an almost unbelievable $51million on planning for the bridge, I guess it is good news that, at last, the Government has listened to public feedback and abandoned what was little more than a $800m vanity project. Remaining funding will instead be reallocated to other transport projects in the city that reduce emissions and traffic congestion. When it comes to Auckland’s transport woes, there is no shortage of projects urgently in need of funding, including important freight projects, such as the Mill Road Highway and East-West Link. Speaking of urgent projects, Transmission Gully, the $1.25billion motorway into and out of Wellington, originally planned to open in 2020, then delayed until September 2021, is now not even guaranteed to open by Christmas.
Admittedly alert Level 3 and Level 4 restrictions, and supply chain constraints associated with Auckland’s lockdown have delayed the project, but there is significant public interest in when Transmission Gully will be open for business. Despite repeated requests, Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency won’t provide any indication as to when the road will actually be open to traffic. Waka Kotahi says it is still in negotiations with the builder to understand the full impact of COVID-19. This sounds like typical bureaucratic obfuscating to me. Waka Kotahi will almost certainly know if a Christmas opening is achievable or not, so why can’t they release the information they do have and inform Wellingtonians about what to expect. A year ago, Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting NZ hosted a Zoom presentation with economist Cameron Bagrie, who gave a rundown on the current state of affairs in a COVID-inflicted environment. Bagrie told the industry that one of the things that worried him the most was “the ridiculousness of how Government thinks about infrastructure investment. Truck & Driver | 41
