Peka Peka to Ōtaki expressway finish date pushed back to 2021

Wednesday, 27 March 2019

Motorists who were champing at the bit to drive on the new $330 million Peka Peka to Ōtaki expressway, north of Wellington, when it opens in 2020 will now have to wait until the following year.

The expected completion date for the four-lane, 13-kilometre road, which will effectively become the northern half of the Kāpiti expressway, has been pushed back until 2021.

Last month, the New Zealand Transport Agency said the expressway was expected to open on time. But documents released under the Official Information Act (OIA) revealed confusion within the agency around this.

The agency has now confirmed the delay, saying the inclusion of a shared path for cyclists, pedestrians and horses is behind it.

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When completed, the Peka Peka to Ōtaki expressway (PP2O) will join up with the Kāpiti expressway between MacKays Crossing in Peka Peka.

The latter will, in turn, also be connected to the Transmission Gully motorway once it is finished in 2020, creating a four-lane expressway that links Wellington to the Kāpiti Coast, all the way up to Horowhenua.

In November, following media comment from project manager Glen Prince that the four-lane expressway was on track to open in 2021, the agency was sticking to the line that the completion date was still 2020, but that it could change.

The OIA documents show that the day after Stuff's November story was published an email was sent to Prince from a person whose name was redacted.

'Once again reference is being made to a 2020 finish to the PP2O expressway,' it read.

'Not sure who in the agency is quoting this but [the] practical completion is January 2021 … we need to get the facts right! I have been saying all along that we need to get 2021 as our finishing year out in the public arena. It is almost impossible for us to finish early – even without the shared path.'

In February the completion date was discussed again by staff.

'Shall we go with PP20 will open in 2020?', manager Neil Beckett wrote. 'Yes – let's leave it at late 2020,' Prince replied.

In a statement on Wednesday, the agency's senior acting senior project delivery manager Karen Boyt said the shared path was an added benefit for the community.

The agency had initially planned to add new cycling facilities to the existing State Highway 1 through the area, which will become a local road once the new expressway opens.

But following a rethink, the decision was made to build the path as part of the expressway project.

'While the extension to the completion date is not ideal, it is necessary in order to provide the long-term benefits that the shared path will provide the community,' Boyt said.

TRANSMISSION GULLY TO BE PAVED

Meanwhile, pavement construction is set to begin on the southern part of the 27-kilometre, $850 million Transmission Gully motorway north of Wellington.

The milestone was hailed as an exciting sign of progress by project director Justin Redelinghuys.

'The sense of achievement for everyone involved when pavement construction starts is immeasurable. We are one big step closer to completion.'

Paving the entire motorway will require more than 680,000 tonnes of high quality aggregate, most of which will be sourced locally and transported in more than 25,000 short-haul truckloads over the coming year.

The first pieces of finished road will be the stretch between SH1 and the new Cannons Creek bridge, as well as the 7km stretch through Battle Hill Farm Park.