Lower Hutt's Cross Valley Transport Connections link clears Waka Kotahi's first funding hurdle

Wednesday, 22 September 2021

The Cross Valley Connections project aims to relieve congestion on roads like the Petone Esplanade which is often gridlocked by commuters and freight trucks crossing the city.

A major planning hurdle has been cleared for a road linking one of the Wellington region’s largest industrial areas with State Highway 2, following decades of discussion.

The business case for the Cross Valley Transport Connections programme – formerly known in part as the Cross Valley Link – put forward by the Hutt City Council, has been accepted by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

Its acceptance opens the door for partial central government funding for the project for which the council has budgeted up to $160 million from its own coffers.

Hutt City mayor Campbell Barry said the acceptance was affirmation the project had merit. It was an important milestone in the city’s development. “It’s important to have east to west connections across the valley … congestion in Petone and Lower Hutt is a growing problem, especially as the population grows.”

Retailers on Petone's Jackson St, which runs parallel with The Esplanade, are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of congestion.

* Lower Hutt's $700 million RiverLink project reaches first major milestone

* Beltway cycleway opens in Lower Hutt, connecting Waterloo station to suburbs

Now proposed as a multimodal transport way – which will include bus routes, and walking and cycling connections – the project first appeared in the District Plan in 1964 as a road, and has come and gone from various regional and city council plans in the years since.

The idea is to build transport links between the Seaview industrial zone in on the eastern side of the valley to the highway in the west, in theory relieving the often gridlocked Petone Esplanade of some of the tens-of-thousands of vehicles that traverse it each day.

After six years of work to get the initial business case right, the council now needed to provide more detailed plans on which Waka Kotahi could make funding decisions, Barry said.

“We’re looking to move along as quickly as possible so Waka Kotahi can fund them.”

Barry was hopeful funding for parts of the project could be granted within the next 18 months.

“This project [addresses] congestion and resilience issues in our growing city. By investing in transport infrastructure projects like Cross Valley Connections, we can ensure that we have stable and efficient transport links across the city.”

In a statement, Waka Kotahi director of regional relationships Emma Speight said the project would support urban development, and provide a greater range of transport options in the city.