Proposed Transmission Gully walking and cycling trails in limbo

Wednesday, 22 January 2025

The project to build the Transmission Gully motorway is currently being restructured.

New cycling and walking trails linking northern Porirua and the Kāpiti Coast as part of Transmission Gully remain in limbo while the project is restructured.

NZ Transport Agency/Waka Kotahi (NZTA) settled a years-long High Court battle with Wellington Gateway Partnership, the private consortium building the motorway, and its subcontractors.

Under an arrangement announced in December, NZTA took direct responsibility to finish the project and assume a larger role in operations, maintenance and asset management, while subcontractors CPB and HEB exited the project.

The project is now under a three-month transition phase.

It had included plans for new walking and cycling paths in Pāuatahanui, connecting Bradey Road to the Pāuatahanui village and another running from the northern end of Flightys Rd to Battle Hill Farm Forest Park.

It also proposed a new trail from Battle Hill which would have a steep uphill climb to an existing track along the western ridgeline, known as the Gasline Track, towards Paekākāriki through Middle Run farm.

An NZTA spokesperson said specific timetables for the project, including the cycling and walking tracks, were yet to be finalised as it remained in the transition phase.

“Discussions with relevant councils about the walking and cycling tracks are also ongoing.”

The proposed tracks were part of a wider plan to link up existing trails to build a connected off-road trail network at the Kāpiti Coast, as well as an intermediate, multi-day destination trail stretching from Pāuatahanui to Manakau through the Akatarawa and Tararua Forest Parks.

The Escarpment Track between Pukerua Bay and Paekākāriki is part of the national Te Araroa track.

If completed the trail, which could total between 90-100 kilometres, would be an alternative to the local section of the Te Araroa route that included the Ara Harakeke Pathway, the Escarpment Track and the Kāpiti coastline.

Janice Hill, a spokesperson of the Kāpiti Trails Trust, said expanded and connected tracks could provide many benefits to both Kāpiti and Porirua through increasing tourism, recreation, the ability to tell local history and greater access to pest control.

“It would also attract and support events such as trail-running and mountain biking, and could connect to the Hutt Valley and Wellington, including the Remutaka Cycle Trail,” she said.

The builders of Transmission Gully took NZTA to court in 2023 in a dispute over the works that still needed to be completed on the project.

In December, NZTA reached an agreement with Wellington Gateway partnership and its subcontractors which resolved all previous disputes. CPB Contractors and HEB Construction Joint Venture left the project.

The agency’s commercial delivery national manager Andrew Robertson said in December the out-of-court settlement was in the best interests of taxpayers and the Government, because it removed the uncertainty from potentially lengthy legal proceedings.

“Quite simply, it allows us to move forward with certainty.”

*CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story had some details incorrect about the 2023 legal case and its resolution which has now been amended. (Amended Tuesday Jan 22, 10.32am)