The road to a new Manawatū-Hawke's Bay highway has a long way to go
Sunday, 21 April 2019
ANALYSIS: The first step in the process to replace the crippled road through the Manawatū Gorge has finished, but it's not a fait accompli.
Why do we need a new road?
State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge has been closed since April 2017, after landslips blocked the road.
It was hardly a surprise, with reports over the years indicating it was at risk of closing.
Landslips are usually cleared and the road reopened, but engineers discovered the hillside was moving and at risk of collapsing.
Workers were pulled from the area immediately in July 2017 and haven't returned.
**READ MORE:
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Are there not other roads already being used?
The alternative routes, the Saddle Rd and Pahīatua Track, are not up to scratch.
While the gorge road was flat, the alternatives are steep, windy, narrow and lack adequate passing lanes to get past the plethora of trucks using them.
The trucking industry has said it adds 20 minutes to trips between Palmerston North and Hawke's Bay, with the added petrol costs eating into profits.
Then there is the extra damage to the roads – millions has been spent upgrading the Saddle Rd – and vehicles on the rough routes.
Where will the new road go?
The New Zealand Transport Agency whittled down a longlist of 13 to a shortlist of four, then decided on the final option: a four-lane highway snaking across the Ruahine Range north of the gorge, but south of the Saddle Rd.
The route makes use of the existing bridge across the Manawatū River to the east of Ashhurst, but will require another bridge to be built near the western mouth of the gorge.
The road will then head north before swinging east, curving along the range before going south-east into Woodville.
The agency wants to start construction in 2020 and have it finished in 2024.
Can the agency just get the diggers out and get going?
The agency has to get resource consents through local councils before it can build the road.
But it has first embarked on a notice of requirement process.
This involves the agency saying it needs certain land designated for a project.
It lets people know the location and nature of work, and protects the area from being compromised in ways that would affect the proposed work – in this case, the new highway.
If approved, the agency's notice of requirement would secure the land required for the highway.
So, it does not need to get resource consents?
No, the agency would still need resource consent for the project.
That is when the real decisions will be made.
Although the agency has made changes during the notice of requirement process, including deciding it will build a cycleway as part of the project, it cannot move an inch of dirt without consent.
If consents are not issued, the road will not be built.
What happens now?
Four commissioners presided over the hearings and will now go away and decide if they should grant the notice of requirement.
They can also suggest conditions for the notice.
Meanwhile, the agency is carrying on with geotechnical investigations and gathering information it will need for the resource consent process.
Bids are already coming in for the building contract, with the successful contractor likely to be announced in July.