Manawatū Gorge construction likely to bring good, bad and ugly

Monday, 30 April 2018

Kāpiti Mayor K Gurunathan said Kāpiti Expressway construction had positive and negative effects on the region.

Construction of a new highway replacing the mothballed Manawatū Gorge road may not start for another two years, but there are already concerns about how the region will deal with the good and the bad it will bring. Jono Galuszka reports.

State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge has been closed for a year due to landslips and will be replaced by a new road just to the north.

Horizons Regional Council chairman Bruce Gordon wonders if small jobs, such as this work between Shannon and Levin, will still get done during the new road's construction.

When the replacement was announced in March, roading officials said construction would likely start in 2020.

If a good example is needed for how to prepare, Manawatū leaders only need to talk to counterparts in Kāpiti.

State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge closed a year ago.

But fears have already surfaced about how Manawatū will cope once construction begins.

* Woodville hopes Manawatū Gorge alternative build quicker than six years

* Residents react to the Manawatū Gorge alternative route announcement**

Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith raised some concerns at a recent regional council meeting, in front of top officials.

A big issue was housing, as Palmerston North's rental market was already under stress, Smith said.

'We are going to have a lot of people moving here to work on [the replacement route].

'It is a good problem to have, but it is coming at us quite quickly.'

Horizons Regional Council chairman Bruce Gordon has also talked about the potential lack of roading contractors to do smaller road projects in the region.

Kāpiti has gone through a similar situation recently, with the construction of the Kāpiti Expressway.

Kāpiti mayor K Gurunathan said his council, in a first for any major roading project in New Zealand, formed a partnership with the building contractor and the transport agency.

That gave the council significant clout to represent the community's interests, he said.

A community liaison committee, made up of representatives from the transport agency staff, the roading contractor and the chair of the Paraparaumu Raumati Community Board was also established.

Neighbourhood groups would report to the committee, which Gurunathan said did a good job of raising and resolving issues.

But, local residents needed to take their change to submit on issues when they could, he said.

Neighbours of the new road had the chance to submit on noise boundaries, but Gurunathan said many people didn't.

'These same people were later shocked when the expressway opened and the traffic noise was unbearable.'

Gurunathan said the influx of labour into the the region was a boom to business, pouring millions of dollars into the local economy.

Local engineering firms received more work through servicing construction machinery and food suppliers were also busier, he said.

The stringent health and safety requirements for the project resulted in sub-contractors upskilling, while polytechnics worked to train Kāpiti residents in a range of skills required to take part in the construction project, Gurunathan said.

That gave residents the prospect of going on to other construction jobs, such as the Peka Peka to Ōtaki Expressway and parts of Transmission Gully.

Employment was also secured through the need to plant and maintain tens of thousands of native shrubs and tress along the Kāpiti Expressway, Gurunathan said.

But there were downsides.

About 120 houses were sacrificed for the Kāpiti Expressway and the influx of construction workers created a rental housing shortage, which in turn increased rent prices, putting pressure on more deprived members of the community, Gurunathan said

Furthermore, people from outside Kāpiti started land banking when the project was confirmed, anticipating increased economic growth but driving up house prices, he said.