1 June 2005
Petone-Grenada road a promising proposal
The Greens are applauding the apparent decision to pull the plug on the Transmission Gully proposal and opt instead for
investigating a road link from Petone to Grenada.
"The $1 billion price tag made Transmission Gully a pipe dream," Green Wellington Transport Spokesperson Sue Kedgley
said. "If you add the fact that it would have massively increased congestion at Ngauranga Gorge, you start to see the
whole idea is silly.
"The Petone-Grenada road has the potential to reduce congestion at Ngauranga without massively increasing road capacity.
The Regional Council's own figures suggest Ngauranga is a key congestion point and so it is worth examining this
proposal further. However, there is a need to carefully examine the impacts of this scheme before rushing into it."
Ms Kedgley commented that the Western Hill rises pretty steeply and as a layperson she was interested to know what sort
of grades this road would have and whether it could be built without significant adverse effects.
"We need to see if it is possible to construct such a road without significant environmental impact or disruption of
long-established communities."
She also suggested that any road ought to be matched by a new rail connection between the Hutt and Porirua lines at
Ngauranga Gorge, enabling trains to run from the Hutt to Porirua and back again directly.
"Some of the infrastructure is already there and the cost would be about 10 percent of that estimated for the new road.
"Nobody should shed a tear at the demise of Transmission Gully, it is yesterday's idea. It would have been a gross waste
of taxpayers' money and would have simply led to more and more cars coming into Wellington and clogging up inner city
streets."
Ms Kedgley repeated her calls for priority to be given to a comprehensive upgrade of rail and other public transport in
the Western Corridor.
"The Regional Council is seriously underestimating the effectiveness of a substantial upgrade of public transport,
coupled with comprehensive demand management. Such investment is also the most sensible step in the face of global
climate change and the looming end of cheap oil."
ENDS