Future of Cambridge to Piarere extension still unknown

Wednesday, 6 December 2023

The new transport minister won’t confirm if and when work on a stretch of highway he’s called “incredibly dangerous” will start.

Pleas from the locals and business leaders are for the Government to four-lane the notorious piece of State Highway 1 between Cambridge and Piarere, extending the Waikato Expressway through the area.

A business leader says the highway’s currently “dangerous and dilapidated”, and a mayor labelled the risk intolerable and said the community needs a timeframe.

There have been nine deaths and 32 serious injuries on the stretch of road in the five years to November 2022, Waka Kotahi data indicates.

Transport Minister Simeon Brown was unavailable for an interview but said in a statement that Cambridge to Piarere was a priority project for the Transport for the Future Programme.

“The previous government unfortunately cancelled this project, which is an incredibly dangerous piece of road, meaning little investment has taken place on this stretch of road.”

He said he’s currently starting work on rewriting the Government Policy Statement on Transport.

“So we can deliver the roading infrastructure New Zealand needs, so people can move quickly and safely around our country.”

The redraft is one of National's commitments on the 100-day-action plan, and aims to reflect National’s new Roads of National Significance and public transport projects.

Cambridge to Piarere is one of the 13 roads.

Last year Brown told the Waikato Times that Labour’s decision to “gut the national land transport fund” for state highway improvement was the reason Labour had no funding for the next 10-years.

“We’ve seen a significant number of large projects across New Zealand be cancelled, whether it be Cambridge to Piarere, Mill Road in Auckland, the Tauranga Northern Link, which they cancelled, and now they’re half building.”

Waikato Chamber of Commerce boss Don Good said the new government could quickly stamp its mark on roading infrastructure by extending the expressway from Cambridge to Piarere.

“The section from Cambridge to Piarere is a dangerous and dilapidated piece of our major state highway network, that has stood for six years as a silent but deadly witness to the Labour government’s inability to get projects done.”

Good said Aucklanders travelling south to see their families, or visiting customers, have been shaken by the transition from expressway to 1960s roading, with its many white crosses.

“Tourists heading to Hobbiton, Tauranga, Rotorua or Taupō and points south must have wondered what third world country they found themselves in”.

He said after Cambridge where drivers go from 110kph to 80kph, then drop down to avoid road cones at 50kph.

“Now Waka Kotahi are proposing to build several roundabouts, it has become a joke and a very dangerous one at that.”

Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan is hoping this government will do what it promised and get on with four-laning.

“This issue and the risk to human life is intolerable”.

She and other leaders wrote to the then Minister of Transport, Michael Wood, about it in November.

“As I recall, we got a reply but certainly no timeframe. If the new government could promise a timeframe at least, that would be a step forward and long overdue.”

“We absolutely do want to see work start on it a lot sooner – in fact yesterday would be great”.

O’Regan has not yet spoken to Brown but would welcome the chance to.

Waka Kotahi regional manager of system design Jess Andrew said the transport agency is currently working on Resource Management Act approvals for the 16km four-lane expressway between Cambridge and Piarere.

“Once the RMA approvals are secured, funding must be confirmed. Then the next stages include detailed design, property acquisition tendering and construction.”

She said the level of funding available for different transport activities is determined by the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS), and allocated through the National Land Transport Programme.

Last year Andrew said they were proposing an upgrade of the section of road but there was no funding for construction at the moment, so it’s currently forecast for construction funding after 2027.

In the meantime Waka Kotahi continues to make safety improvements, most recently completing the turnaround bay at Keeley’s Reserve in Karāpiro.

The next priorities are a turnaround bay north of Hickey Road, installing median barriers from the end of the Waikato Expressway through to Hydro Road, and road widening and turnaround bays at Gorton and Tunawaka Roads.

Construction for a roundabout at the SH1/SH29 intersection will begin early 2024.

National Road Carriers Association boss Justin Tighe-Umbers said the Waikato Expressway has been a game changer for the trucking industry.

“Drivers report it saves 30 minutes per trip, which delivers huge efficiency wins in a much safer driving environment. NRC wholeheartedly supports getting this next phase of the Waikato Expressway built as quickly as possible.”

The association said that, once operational, the Cambridge to Piarere Expressway will add up to $500 million a year to New Zealand’s GDP and, over a 20-year period, is expected to bring $6 billion into the economy (in net present value terms), compared to if the investment had never taken place.