Mariner (8

January 23, 2023 – Issue 339

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Hibiscusmatters Localmattersnz

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General manager: Jannette Thompson gm@localmatters.co.nz Editor: Terry Moore ph 022 019 6569, 427 8187 terry@localmatters.co.nz Graphic designer: Lorry McCarthy hibiscus@localmatters.co.nz Online: Richie Lovelock ph 022 544 0249 online@localmatters.co.nz Advertising: Angela Gallagher ph 022 029 1895 sellit@localmatters.co.nz Leigh Cameron ph 022 096 8517 sales@localmatters.co.nz

A division of Local Matters. Hibiscus Matters is a locally owned publication, circulated to more than 21,602 homes and businesses fortnightly: Puhoi • Waiwera • Hatfields • Ōrewa • Silverdale • Millwater • Dairy Flat • Red Beach • Whangaparāoa Peninsula

Views expressed in Hibiscus Matters are not necessarily endorsed by the publishers. All rights reserved. Reproduction without editor’s permission is prohibited.

T H E S O L U T I O N

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Logo Large Drive Penlink soon! A mobile information hub for the O Mahurangi (Penlink) project is being designed and includes a driving simulator. Waka Kotahi expect the hub to be launched in the first quarter of this year.

Long time Penlink Now campaigner Janet Fitzgerald and her team were at the sod turning on Saturday, December 10. From left, Labour list MP and Penlink supporter

Marja Lubeck, with Glenys Ferguson, Janet Fitzgerald and Liz Scott of Penlink Now.Logo Small At the sod turning last month, Cr John Watson outlined key aspects of the history of the project in his capacity as chair of Auckland Council’s Transport and Infrastructure Committee. Here is an excerpt: “This is an auspicious occasion for people on the Hibiscus Coast have waited for the best part of 40 years since such a project was first advanced across the council chamber of the Rodney County Council in 1984. Since that time I doubt if there has been a more politicised transport project in NZ. However, the history of the crossing of what was then called the Wade River, goes back long before this era. In the 1920s it was Mr Percy from Stillwater who, for a small charge, would row Whangaparāoa settlers across the Weiti River when embarking on their 4-5 hike hour down the coast to ‘town’ - which was Browns Bay in those days. If you were lucky, Mr Percy would cook you a steak on the return trip for he was always eager to catch up on all the news from the ‘big smoke’. During World War II, American troops were stationed on Whangaparāoa. At the very end of the peninsula a massive coastal defence facility was being constructed by Downer and the Public Works Department in preparation for a Japanese invasion (including a maze of tunnels and gun emplacements still there today). It was said that if the Americans had stayed another six months they were planning to build a bridge themselves – but they didn’t and it wasn’t. By 1984 a roading report before the Rodney County Council put the cost of providing a bridge and fixing the entire roading network on Whangaparāoa itself at $62m. For the next 40 years there were a lot of plans and talk but not a lot of building (and probably the expenditure of a reasonable chunk of that $62m along the way)! By 2022, a century on since Mr Percy and his dinghy, work has started on the latest version of Penlink. When it is complete, the Hibiscus Coast with Penlink connecting directly to the expanded Northern Motorway and Northern Busway, the associated bus terminal and park and ride, combined with a fully functional ferry service from Gulf Harbour, will provide one of the best connected transport networks in the region.”

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