NEWS RELEASE

from Hutt City Council

2 July 2003

TRANSIT ROAD FUNDING OK, BUT...

The timetable for improvements to State Highway 2 at Dowse and Korokoro is better than we had feared, but not nearly as good as we had hoped for, Hutt City Mayor John Terris said today.

"The original delay of five years for the commencement of construction of this hugely important roading project has now been reduced to one, which is encouraging," said Mayor Terris.

Transit's final 10 year State Highway Plan shows funds necessary for further detailed investigation and design of the Dowse interchange ($1.2 million) have been committed for expenditure in the current financial year.

"These are major improvements to the project's original priority, justifying our extensive lobbying of Transit against the original timelines and for a fair share of roading funds."

"We need to continue to press for a start on construction as soon as the design work has been done.

"Notwithstanding this success, I note that this is the only Hutt City roading project in Transit's plan."

"The current state of affairs is that far too many injury accidents are occurring along this stretch of state highway and commuter traffic delays are steadily worsening."

"In addition, while we as a community are striving to develop Hutt City as a retail and transport and distribution centre for the region, SH2 acts as a bypass for the city. The Dowse Gateway therefore remains an urgent need.

"This will form the cornerstone of Hutt City's future transport planning," said Mayor Terris.

"I also note that the future funding of roading projects remains a major unresolved issue. The only work that is going to get done in Hutt City is what gets done in the current year. The Government's decision on how they see the pool of money being increased is awaited with keen interest.

"It is, however, pleasing to see included the provision of funds for the investigation and design of a cycleway from Petone to Wellington."

ENDS

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