Southern Links' city footprint secured

Wednesday, 24 February 2016

An animated image of the proposed new Waikato River bridge alongside Hamilton Gardens. The bridge is part of the proposed $600 million Southern Links road network.

Hamilton City Council has secured designations for the Southern Links project across the Peacocke area.

Resource consents have also been granted for two bridges across the Waikato River and one bridge over the Mangakotukutuku Stream.

The resource consents for a proposed bridge alongside the Hamilton Gardens allow for a range of bridge designs, such as an arch or cable-stayed bridge.

The $600 million roading project includes18 kilometres of state highway and 13km of urban arterial roads within Peacocke.

The project is a joint initiative between the city council and the New Zealand Transport Agency.

The designation has a 20-year lapse period with construction of the network at least 10 to 15 years away.

Once complete, Southern Links will link State Highway 1 from Kahikatea Drive in Hamilton to Tamahere and the Waikato Expressway in the south, and SH3 from Hamilton Airport to central and east Hamilton.

There were no appeals in relation to the council's part of the Southern Links network.

NZTA has two appeals to resolve in order to complete the designation process for its part of Southern Links in the Waikato and Waipa districts.

Hamilton Councillor Andrew King said completing the designation process is fantastic and he could see the Government move quicker on any potential investment.

'That would put pressure on us to really get going,' King said.

'It's been 30 years since we promised the people of Peacocke that we'd open up to them.'

Since then, developers in other parts of Hamilton had jumped ahead of Peacocke, King said.

'And we've been told by staff in the past that it's because there are a lot of small players in Peacocke and it's a lot easier to deal with the big boys,' he said.

'This is actually a big step to get the designation through.'

Southern Links has not been without its critics, especially in Tamahere, where some residents say they could be stuck in limbo, possibly unable to develop their properties, while waiting for roading bosses to act during the next 20 years.

Councillor Dave Macpherson said he was disappointed by the lack of provision in the project for a rail link between the main trunk line and Hamilton Airport.