MP Chris Bishop fears Lower Hutt road plans will suffer from Labour's land transport policy

Tuesday, 3 April 2018

Transport Minister Phil Twyford announces the priority for land transport will be investment in local roads and rapid transport. It is hoped to prevent 160 deaths and serious injuries per year.

Hutt South MP Chris Bishop has expressed concerns the Government's newly unveiled transport plans will relegate two big roading projects in the Hutt Valley to the backburner.

The Government unveiled its 10-year plans for land transport on Tuesday, including huge investment in road safety and rapid rail, at the expense of state highway upgrades.

Bishop said the Melling interchange on State Highway 2 at Lower Hutt was a major chokepoint, and a new interchange was vital for the city's RiverLink project as well as easing traffic congestion.

The Melling interchange, looking from Harbourview during morning rush hour. Hutt South MP Chris Bishop says that, under the Government's newly unveiled 10-year land transport plan, an upgrade of the SH2 chokepoint would become low priority. (File photo)

He said the interchange was the No 1 transport priority for the Hutt Valley.

**READ MORE:

Bishop is concerned the proposed Petone-Grenada link will also be in jeopardy under the plans.

* Government to invest in road safety and rapid rail

* Melling interchange gets $72m 'fast tracking'

How the proposed Petone-Grenada highway would connect to SH1 in northern Wellington at the Tawa interchange.

* Earthquakes prompt rethink of Petone-Grenada highway

* Lower Hutt commits to $39m river promenade**

During the last election, National said it would 'fast-track' $72 million for a new interchange.

In December, the planned $270m Petone-Grenada link road went back on the drawing board after a review suggested it would be prone to landslides, and would cost more than first thought.

Despite the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) review, Bishop was concerned the project would become 'effectively dead' under the latest plans.

'The link is very important for Tawa, Grenada, the Hutt and Wellington city, as it would open up new land for housing … it's a backwards step.'

Transport Minister Phil Twyford said the Government Policy Statement (GPS) provided a strategic direction for transport funding, and operational decisions on individual roading projects were made at arm's length by NZTA.

'So I am not able to say how the rebalancing of transport investment will affect decisions around roading projects in the Hutt.'

But he said Bishop's concerns were unfounded, and NZTA had decided to go back to the drawing board on the Petone-Grenada link long before the draft GPS was announced.

He understood NZTA was looking at the proposal for the Melling interchange, and there was no reason to think the GPS would have any effect on that process.

Lower Hutt Mayor Ray Wallace said he hoped NZTA would make a decision soon on the interchange, which was a major chokepoint for Lower Hutt and for Wellington.

While he applauded the Government's focus on public transport, he said traffic issues affecting Lower Hutt were not going away. 'I can only see them getting worse.'

NZTA's review of the Petone-Grenada link did not diminish the importance of the project and, unlike Bishop, he believed there was was nothing to indicate it was 'dead in the water'.

The annual $4 billion National Land Transport Fund is a work programme carried out by NZTA, which is guided by the priorities set by the Government in the GPS.