Clock ticks on $3.8 billion Wellington road push but without key details

Tuesday, 18 November 2025

Liam Matthews always knew his days were numbered at his Austin St, Mount Victoria house.

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With 28 days to give feedback on a $3.8 billion road plan through the heart of the city, Wellingtonians are blind on two key aspects – how much Town Belt land will be gobbled up and how long will work take?

Waka Kotahi NZTA on Monday unveiled detailed plans of the National-led government’s answer to Let’s Get Wellington Moving, with a notably more road-centric proposal.

The $3.8b plan involves second Mount Victoria and Terrace tunnels and a complete change to how cars get around the Basin Reserve, which would now largely become a two-way road with an underpass.

But there were two questions NZTA could not answer: How much time will the roadworks take and how much Town Belt land would be taken for roads?

Wellington mayor Andrew Little understood about 2ha of Town Belt could go.

“The Town Belt is a very special feature of Wellington, it’s got its own legislation so we’re going to have some careful discussions with NZTA,” he said.

It was vital people engaged in the “somewhat truncated” consultation process if they wanted to see changes.

A section of Town Belt land beside Ruahine St will have to go for the planned road.

“I support the second Mt Vic tunnel on the basis that it must include provisions for walking and cycling, and I support the second Terrace Tunnel that goes with it.”

To Green Rongotai MP, and the party’s transport spokesperson, Julie Anne Genter, it was “shocking and unacceptable” that the agency would ask for feedback from the public without key details.

She understood a “huge portion” of Town Belt land would need to be acquired, as would a large number of houses and, potentially, a local kindergarten.

An artist’s impressions of the Hataitai double-tunnel entrance suggest a sizeable chunk of Town Belt land would need to be dug out there.

“A project like this will take the better part of a decade. It’s not a quick fix – and it will result in worse traffic and disruption for years,” she said.

An artist’s impression of the second Mount Victoria tunnel.

Labour transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere said the “elements of uncertainty” around Town Belt land and construction times would cause confusion in a “truncated” 28-day feedback period.

“People deserve to know the full impact,” he said.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop said at Tuesday’s post-Cabinet press conference that 176 properties potentially needed to be fully or partly acquired, and 146 properties on top of that to enable the construction.

He said while there were four weeks of consultation, the project had had a long history and “it’s not like Wellingtonians are unaware of the general plan”.

“My general sense out of Wellingtonians is they just want us to get on with it.”

NZTA system design regional manager Kesh Keshaboina said it was “unavoidable” that some Town Belt land would be acquired under the Public Works Act. This was to allow for a second Mount Victoria tunnel, on Ruahine St in Hataitai, and the canal reserve between Kent and Cambridge terraces. It was looking at “mitigation options” for taking the land.

Meanwhile, the agency had started talking to potentially affected home owners, including Hataitai Kindergarten.

Exactly which houses will have to go on Wellington Rd is unknown but the stretch, where NZTA owns many of the properties, include a new build.

NZTA started buying properties along the planned route in 1966 and already owns many homes along the affected sections of Paterson St, Austin St, Ellice St and Kent Tce in Mount Victoria, as well as Wellington Rd in Hataitai.

At the south end of Austin St, Liam Matthews has been renting off the agency for two years, enjoying relatively cheap rent and a good landlord willing to do the basics but no improvements.

“[We always knew] it was going to go at some point,” he said.

What will change

The Basin Reserve will no longer be a one-way roundabout, with traffic going in both directions for much of it.

Newtown-bound traffic from the city will travel to the north of the ground via an underpass while cars in the opposite direction will take the same route to the north, with a lane to divert into the Arras Tunnel and onto Karo Drive.

Traffic from the Mt Victoria Tunnel northbound will go to the east of the ground and directly up to Karo Drive while traffic from Mt Victoria to Newtown will circle the Basin Reserve in an anticlockwise direction.

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