National’s killer road fix a big hit with locals

Saturday, 5 August 2023

Traffic near the eastern end of the Cambridge to Piarere stretch.

Local people and mayors are backing National’s plans to speed up a “life-saving” extension of the Waikato Expressway from Cambridge to Piarere.

A senior educator in the area says it’s time to just get on with the 16-kilometre upgrade and that the issue shouldn’t be “political”.

But the Government and National are still sparring over the projected costs.

Also, while National wants to get going in one to three years, transport agency Waka Kotahi’s latest advice is that funding is unlikely before 2027 “at the earliest”.

An aerial shot of trucks streaming past the Mobil service station near the Karapiro School.

However, asked after National’s announcement whether Cambridge to Piarere might be speeded up if the Government is re-elected, Transport Minister David Parker’s office said priorities would be unveiled this month before Parliament rises for the election.

Still “just get on with it” was Karāpiro School principal Tina-Maree Thatcher’s reaction to National’s announcement, saying the quality of the highway in the area was a major concern given the speed people travel and traffic volumes.

The school is near the Mobil service station not far from the end of the current expressway, a section where an 80kph limit now applies. But Thatcher says drivers can still be going a higher speeds after getting off the expressway and there can be congestion problems.

“Our board have serious concerns for staff and families on this road every day,” she said, adding there’s also concern about safety on local roads people use to avoid SH1.

“The biggest problem is that we are sick of our safety being a political issue.”

She said it felt like the stretch had been “forgotten” and had too many fatalities and injuries.

Waka Kotahi data indicates nine deaths and 32 serious injuries from accidents on the Cambridge-Piarere stretch between 2017 and November 2022.

Karapiro School principal Tina-Maree Thatcher says she’s keen for the politics to be taken out of the debate over the timing of a Cambridge to Piarere expressway extension.

“It [an extension] shouldn’t be political, we shouldn’t be waiting for any particular government to get in,” said Thatcher.

“It would resolve the safety issue because we would have safe access to school.”

Beck’s Nurseries co-owner CJ Beck-Henderson, whose property is close to Piarere, said speeding up the “long-awaited” extension would be “fantastic”.

“We get quite depressed about this road,” she said, due to its narrowness and volumes.

“On long weekends we don’t leave our properties. ”

Traffic could come to a standstill. “It can’t take the volume anymore.”

Flows were exacerbated by more people from Tauranga heading to the Waikato Expressway to get to Auckland.

CJ Beck-Henderson, co-owner of Beck's Nurseries near Piarere turn-off, says a faster start to the expressway extension would be “fantastic” for safety reasons.

While there appeared to be fewer accidents lately due to what seemed like slower speeds, “you still feel like you take your life in your hands a bit every time you drive the stretch between Piarere and Cambridge”.

“It’s always at the forefront of our minds, that blinking road.”

Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan says too many lives have been lost and people hurt in accidents on SH! from Cambridge to Piarere and she’s keen to see quicker progress on extending the expressway to cover this stretch.

Sometimes there were no nursery staff at work due to crashes.

Matamata-Piako mayor Adrienne Wilcock is keen to see the extension go ahead for safety reasons and also wants improvements to SH29.

Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan - whose district hosts the bulk of the 16km - said of the speed-up plan: “We would welcome any progress on that stretch.”

Waikato road policing manager Jeff Penno says he can’t comment on National’s announcement but suggests roading systems need to help avoid people being killed “because they make a single mistake”.

The condition of the current road contributed to too much death and injury and she said she’d lobbied for improvements since becoming mayor.

O’Regan would also like to see four-laning of SH29 all the way to Tauranga.

Matamata-Piako mayor Adrienne Wilcock was another wanting faster progress on an extension for safety reasons.

But she agreed that upgrading SH29, which runs through her district into the Bay of Plenty, “definitely needs attention” as well.

National’s transport spokesperson Simeon Brown (centre) at this week’s tyransport plan announcement - he’s sticking by the party’s figures.

“It’s got to be the next piece of the puzzle,” said Wilcock.

On whether SH29 should be four-laned or whether safety upgrades would be enough was a question to be considered, she said.

Waikato road policing manager Jeff Penno said he couldn’t comment on the specifics of what National was proposing.

But he said police, the Ministry of Transport and Waka Kotahi all acknowledged the value of “five-star” road infrastructure.

Transport minister David Parker says the Government’s priorities for new roading investment will be outlined this month, before Parliament rises for the election.

“We know that a third of all our deaths and serious injuries occur not through an an illegal act but through people making mistakes.

“And the system must allow for that and people shouldn’t be killed on our roads because they make a single mistake. So, therefore, the infrastructure is critical.

“However, that is incredibly expensive and there’s always a prioritisation that must go into that.”

The exact amount needed for the extension became a political hot potato after National’s announcement.

The opposition plan put aside $721 million based on a 2021 figure supplied by Minister Parker in response last month to a parliamentary question from National transport spokesperson Simeon Brown.

But, replying to Waikato Times queries, Parker said in a statement he had made it clear the $721m estimate excluded GST and “cost escalation”.

“The current cost estimate for Cambridge to Piarere is $1.5 billion to $2bn.”

National “should have factored in GST and a realistic cost escalation estimate, based on the information provided to them,” Parker said.

Asked whether the Government could speed up the extension if re-elected, a spokesperson for Parker said: “The Government’s priorities for new roading investment will be covered as part of the draft government policy statement on transport due to be released this month, before Parliament rises for the election.”

Brown was asked whether National would still try to start the project within 1-3 years if the Government’s higher cost estimate proved correct.

“Yes. We stand by our numbers,” he said in a statement.

“National will accelerate investment in modern, world-class infrastructure by using a range of funding sources.”

These included additional government investment, value capture (where developers who benefit from new infrastructure contribute to the cost), toll roads, and equity financing from the likes of the Super Fund, KiwiSaver funds or global investors.

Act’s leader David Seymour this week also expressed support for speeding Cambridge to Piarere up and said if the Government couldn’t fund things in a reasonable time it should ask for market expressions of interest in doing projects.

Waka Kotahi, meanwhile, says it’s already done significant safety upgrades, with more work to come, to improve the Cambridge to Piarere stretch before four-laning can be carried out.