Alternative to Manawatū Gorge is 6 years away

Friday, 16 March 2018

The proposed replacement for State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge has been confirmed.

Tararua and Manawatū mayors are delighted at the option chosen for the Manawatū Gorge replacement route, although it's not the one they lobbied for.

Their joy comes from the NZ Transport Agency's decision to create a business case looking into a regional freight ring road, which would link Manawatū's growing transport and logistics hubs.

The agency announced on Friday its preferred route would go north of the Manawatū Gorge, but south of the Saddle Rd bypass.

Traffic will use the bridge already going across the Manawatū River east of Ashhurst, but veer north just before the Manawatū Gorge entry, go east across the range, then head down the other side into Woodville.

State Highway 3 through the gorge has been closed since April, after two slips came down on the road.

An update on the situation in the Manawatū Gorge.

The notoriously unstable hillside was then found to be moving at a faster rate than normal, forcing workers off the site.

The agency had put out four options for consultation: A route north of the Saddle Rd, improving the Saddle Rd, a road starting just north of Palmerston North but well south of Ashhurst, and the option it has chosen.

Friday's announcement came with a surprise – the agency committed to forming a business case for a regional ring road.

The road would link Kairanga, Bunnythorpe and the inland port at Longburn to Ashhurst, and have another bridge built across the Manawatū River.

Manawatū mayors had lobbied for the option just north of Palmerston North, but all spoken to by Stuff were happy with the result.

Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith said doing the gorge replacement on its own would have been good, but it made sense to develop the ring road at the same time.

The Manawatū Gorge has been closed to traffic since April, after large slips came down on the road.

'If you connect the new route with the ring road, it gets heavy transport out of Palmerston North and connects all our freight and distribution hubs.'

Woodville, the last town before traffic went into the Manawatū Gorge, has suffered a downturn in traffic thanks to the closure.

Some businesses have previously said their revenue was down by as much as 70 per cent.

Tararua mayor Tracey Collis said the best part of the announcement was the certainty it gave business owners.

There could also be money made from the construction of the road, especially if workers lived in Tararua like they did during the redevelopment of Fonterra's milk drying plant in Pahiatua, she said.

Horizons Regional Council chairman Bruce Gordon said mayors in the area still had work ahead to make sure the ring road went from a business case to reality.

'When we went to NZTA last year and the transport minister [Phil Twyford] this year, we told them we were not interested in a point-to-point deal.

'We want a package deal.'

The transport agency's director of regional relationships Emma Speight said the chosen route was safer than the southern one, which would have seen the road go between two fault lines at one point.

The chosen route was shorter by 6.6 kilometres, would also be a quicker trip than the old Manawatū Gorge route, shaving nearly four minutes off, and not be as steep as the Saddle Rd, she said.

Resource consents need to be granted before work begins, with Speight putting 2020 as a construction start date.

Work is expected to be done by 2024.