Re-think on taki to Levin expressway

The future of a proposed expressway between taki and Levin, north of Wellington, appears more uncertain after the New Zealand Transport Agency said the potentially billion-dollar project was being ‘‘re-evaluated’’.

Residents of about 400 houses affected by the nine routes options shortlisted for the proposed expressway earlier this year had been told a final route would be chosen by June.

But the agency now says it will be months before it can confirm the route, leaving hundreds of homeowners in limbo.

Emma Speight, the agency’s director of regional relationships, said the taki to Levin project needed ‘‘re-evaluation’’ to better align with the new Labour-led Government’s transport policy.

‘‘Once it has been re-evaluated, it will be reconsidered,’’ she said.

Designed to replace an area of state highway dubbed a ‘‘killing field’’ by a former coroner, the taki to Levin expressway was green-lit when National was in power.

The four-lane road, which could cost anywhere between $690 million and $1.06 billion, was intended to bypass Levin. But uncertainty has swirled around the project since April when the Government announced new priorities for land transport.

It proposed taking money away from the previous Government’s Roads of National Significance projects – which saw the birth of the Ka¯piti expressway and Transmission Gully motorway – to focus on rail projects and road safety.

Speight said that overarching strategy strongly influenced which of the agency’s projects and programmes of work would progress and when.

‘‘We acknowledge the frustration this may result in for communities and people affected by this project.’’

Local councils now had to align their projects to the new Government policy and submit them to the Transport Agency by the end of August to be eligible for taxpayer funding, she said.

One affected homeowner, who did not want to be named, said the uncertainty over the expressway’s route was frustrating for her community who were told the preferred route would be announced in June. ‘‘People can’t sell or plan anything to do with their houses. People don’t even know if they should put a wood burner in,’’ she said.