At last Transmission Gully is open, an engineering and construction marvel, a moorway that’s delight to travel on.
Cutting the ribbon for its opening, the PM seemed almost surprised by the excitement it created.
It was ”testament to what can be achieved in spite of a rough start and in spite of a one-in-100-year pandemic”, Jacinda Ardern said.
For Kapiti Coast commuters, the new motorway, 27km in length, provides welcome relief from the old, highly dangerous, time-consuming Centennial Highway.
But the Ardern government has presented them with a fresh dilemma.
It comes through the introduction of half-price fares on public transport, meaning those who use the Metro trains on the run between Paekakariki and Wellington can save $125 a month on the cost of a monthly commuter ticket. If that becomes permanent the saving translates to $1500 a year.
Point of Order has extracted these figures from an informative piece by Thomas Coughlan in the NZ Herald—though we didn’t agree with his describing Transmission Gully as “over-hyped, over-subsidised, over-long and over-budget” (except for the over-budget bit of his bleat).
For sure, it should have been built 25 years ago, but then it would have been less well engineered.
It was remarkable, too, that on its opening, Labour ministers who had been so critical of the project didn’t hesitate to accept the credit for it being such an excellent highway, not just for the commuters, but also for the heavy trucks which carry foodstuffs and other essential supplies into and out of the capital, and for the interisland ferry services.
Given the Labour Government has delayed a decision on the Otaki-Levin stage of the motorway for four years, those ministers should be spurred into action—and if they get it done, on time and on budget, they will deserve the applause of the next generations well as the current one.
Some authorities regard it as extraordinary that while there has been so much orating from Labour ministers (and Green MPs) about making roads safer, not a single new four-lane project has been begun since 2017.
In the trucking industry, transport operators are already talking of productivity gains from Transmission Gully. For trucks operating from the Hutt Valley to Levin, for example, the Gully route has taken 10 minutes off the run, or 20 minutes for the round trip.
Point of Order suspects commuters into Wellington from the more salubrious parts of the Kapiti region, given the choice of savings from the rail service or the smooth run through Transmission Gully, will opt for the Gully.
Point of Order 