The travel problems that another tunnel won’t solve

Tuesday, 23 December 2025

Eastbound traffic on Vivian St will ensure that getting north-to-south by car across the CBD is going to continue to be even more painful in future, writes Dave Armstrong.

Dave Armstrong is a playwright and satirist based in Wellington. He is a regular opinion contributor.

OPINION: I had a meeting in Miramar followed by one in the central city. For various reasons, I was not on my bike but driving. It was an ordinary weekday around noon, so I allowed a good 15 minutes to get into town. Oops. After quarter of an hour, I was sitting in snail-paced traffic outside St Pat’s College, Kilbirnie.

This isn’t the first time I’ve been caught in heavy east-west traffic. A recent car trip from Strathmore to Kilbirnie – about 10 minutes by bike – took me over 30 minutes on a busy Saturday afternoon.

At least all our congestion problems will disappear when we get the expensive but necessary billion-dollar second Mt Vic tunnel, right? You might think that double the tunnels will halve both the traffic volume and travel times, but it doesn’t quite work like that.

Transport planner and former Wellington City Councillor Chris Calvi-Freeman is sceptical about the benefits a second Mt Vic tunnel is meant to bring to the city.

As former city councillor and transport planner Chris Calvi-Freeman recently pointed out, motorists will still have to endure six sets of traffic lights from Mt Victoria to the Terrace Tunnel, and eight sets the other way. Calvi-Freeman also predicts north-south travel in the city will become even more difficult as east-west traffic is further prioritised.

If you’ve ever tried to walk, cycle or drive down Taranaki St towards town, you’ll know what he’s talking about. After patiently waiting in traffic forming around Bidwill St you wonder what the problem is. The problem is that the lights favour the many cars travelling west and east in and out of town. Finally, the lights turn your way - yay! – but only briefly, so you wait an age for them to turn green again. I’ve often spent more time waiting for lights to change in the CBD than travelling.

Finally, you get past the west-travelling traffic near Webb St only to encounter the east-travelling traffic at Vivian St. How comforting for those of us travelling south to north to learn that in future the lights are going to favour east-west drivers even more.

In Hataitai, the new tunnel will see an interchange and flyover off Ruahine St funnel large volumes of traffic onto Moxham Ave – currently a relatively quiet suburban street. Once construction finishes it will see 3500 more cars a day. Think Cable St or Karo Drive but with a nice pub and cafes. Little wonder that all three Motukairangi/Eastern ward councillors – one Labour, one independent and one Green – oppose the plan.

But at least the new tunnel will get our economy moving, right? Experts calculate a cost-benefit ratio of 0.6-1.2. That means for every dollar the government (and possibly the Wellington ratepayer, if NZTA gets its way) spends, the worst case is that they get only 60 cents of benefits back. The best return is $1.20 – hardly a bonanza. Compare that with $3.20 back for every $1 spent supporting live performance within the arts, according to a recent study.

A gathering of Wellington’s cycling advocates, making a stand for pedal power. Dave Armstrong questions where cycling and public transport fit into the capital’s transport future, where all the official focus is currently on a new tunnel.

Then there’s the cycling/pedestrian lane in the tunnel. As motorists know, pedestrians and cyclists are the same species, in the same way that lions and kittens can share a zoo cage. That’s why young, fit cyclists, who can easily reach speeds of 40kph, will share a lane in the new tunnel, cheek by jowl, with elderly pedestrians who average about 3kph on a good day.

With all these new vehicles coming into town that NZTA have predicted, where will they park? Yes, there is some parking available in Wellington but forget it if you want to be close to Lambton Quay or the railway station. Given we’re going to get more LA-style freeways, will we get more LA-style parking buildings, too?

I understand how frustrating it can be driving in from the eastern suburbs, but it seems insane that with all the planning and cost, there’s hardly a mention of pedestrians, public transport or cyclists in a city where the majority of residents don’t drive a car to work.

Even if the tunnel gets constructed, where’s the push to get more people in buses, cycling and walking? This will help ease car congestion. Why are there no steps, apart from making it easier for private vehicles, to make airport traffic more manageable? Next time you’re stuck on Cobham Drive – and believe me, you will be – count the number of taxis and Ubers around you.

Our Government understands cars but doesn’t seem to understand that if you reduce traffic by offering subsidised alternatives then there are fewer cars to worry about. I’m reminded of a household with both parents already working 60 hours a week each, but they can’t make ends meet. Yet instead of reducing spending they simply work longer hours until they both reach a state of exhaustion.

Whether or not the second tunnel is built, councils and government need to support cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, and most of all public transport. That way we might avoid a situation in 20 years’ time when car congestion gets so bad that the usual suspects start calling for a third Mount Victoria tunnel.