The National Party has pledged a $4 billion infrastructure package for Wellington and the Hutt Valley if it is voted into government.
National Party leader Judith Collins announcing the party's Wellington region transport policy in Petone today. Photo: RNZ / Charlie Dreaver
Leader Judith Collins made the policy announcement in Petone today, as part of its $31b transport infrastructure policy announced last month.
The package includes fast-tracking the construction of a second Mt Victoria Tunnel and building a second Terrace Tunnel.
The party is also promising to construct a new highway connecting Seaview, Lower Hutt, to State Highway 1 north of Wellington and introducing rapid buses or trackless trams between Wellington CBD and the airport.
The Wellington and Hutt Valley transport Package includes:
- Fast-tracking construction of a second Mt Victoria Tunnel and delivering a second Terrace Tunnel
- Fixing congestion at the Basin Reserve through grade-separation
- Rapid transit between Wellington's CBD and airport in the form of rapid buses or trackless trams
- Removing highway traffic from Wellington's inner-city streets by undergrounding SH1 through Te Aro
- A new highway connecting Seaview in Lower Hutt to SH1 north of Wellington
- Upgrading Wellington's metro network, including new trains to improve services between Wellington, Masterton and Palmerston North
- Widening SH1 to four lanes between Wellington's CBD and airport (Ruahine St and Wellington Rd)
- Widening SH2 to four lanes between Silverstream and Whakatiki St in Upper Hutt, and fixing dangerous intersections through new interchanges
Collins said the spending would be in addition to funding already been promised through regional council and government's Let's Get Wellington Moving plan and the New Zealand Upgrade Programme.
She said a new Mt Victoria Tunnel will deliver more reliable travel times between Wellington's CBD and eastern suburbs, as well as the airport.
"This region is choked by congestion. Wellington has the worst traffic in Australasia for a city under one million people," Collins said.
As part of the package the party is looking to establish a new body to deliver National's redesigned let's Get Wellington Moving package.
Transport spokesperson Chris Bishop said a Wellington Transport agency wasn't a new idea, but it was one that had real merit.
"Transport in Wellington has been a debacle for far too long - we only have to look at the lasagna of failure two years ago with the buses."
Bishop said at the time the regional council blamed the city council and the city council blamed the regional council.
"Wellingtonians were just left there saying 'what on earth has gone wrong' and 'why can't the buses go on time anymore?'," he said.
Labour's transport spokesperson Phil Twyford agreed a new agency could be a good idea if the councils agreed.
But he hit back at National's lasagna claim.
"I would say the National Party cooked that lasagna, the bus-tastrophe that happened over the last couple of years was a direct result of the public transport operating framework that National legislated and we'll be fixing it," he said.
He also questioned how the National Party would pay for an extra $31 billion in its infrastructure programme on top of what Labour had already committed to.
"They're not telling Kiwis how they'll fund these massive promises, what projects are they going to cut?" he said.
Twyford said Labour was committed to a second Victoria Tunnel - however, it had previously pushed back construction to as late as 2029.
Twyford said a second Terrace Tunnel was not priority.
In previous transport announcements National promised to connect Ōtaki to Wellington's electric commuter train network, fast-track a four-lane expressway from Ōtaki to Levin and a Palmerston North rural ring road.