Rocks Rd project faces further blow – MP to launch petition
Funding for a project to upgrade Nelson’s Rocks Rd is not part of a 10-year national state highway investment programme, an omission the city’s MP says is “outrageous”.
The long-discussed project for the main waterfront route to and from Nelson city included a widened walking and cycling boulevard.
It was dropped from the high-level Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport in March, after the previous Labour Government had included it alongside the Hope Bypass as priority projects for the region.
In March, Transport Minister Simeon Brown said specific regional projects could still get transport funding through the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) even though they were not part of the GPS that sets national investment priorities.
“This is not an exhaustive list of all projects expected to be funded and delivered from the (National Land Transport Fund) or other Crown funding,” he said.
This month NZTA Waka Kotahi released its 10-year State Highway Investment Programme, which identifies projects for the network in line with Government strategy. There was no mention of Rocks Rd but the Hope Bypass is part of both the GPS and the state highway programme.
Nelson MP Rachel Boyack said the Rocks Rd omission meant it was becoming clear “that the Government has no intention of funding this much needed project for Nelson”. Boyack was to hold a public meeting on the issue last night, when she was due to launch a petition seeking to get the road back as a Government priority.
“Rocks Rd is in bad shape,” she said. “We have a state highway that closes during severe weather and the government has dropped the project to upgrade the road - it’s outrageous,” she said.
The Joint Nelson Tasman Regional Transport Committee, representing Nelson and Tasman councils, has submitted to the Government’s GPS that the Rocks Rd reslience, walking and cycling project should be included as a project of priority with regional significance.
“The minister is out of touch with communities here in the top of the south and needs to prioritise the important Rocks Road upgrade immediately,” Boyack said.
Brown said in a statement on Tuesday that the coalition Government’s top priority in Nelson was the Hope Bypass. “This is a key project that will reduce congestion in Richmond and allow more housing growth in Hope,” he said.
Joint transport committee chairperson and deputy Tasman mayor Stuart Bryant said Rocks Rd’s omission from the state highway programme meant it was “unlikely to happen in the forseeable future”.
He said from a Tasman viewpoint the project was a priority to ensure freight from rural areas to Port Nelson could move freely and efficiently which was not the case on the congested route currently.
The Hope bypass was the No 1 priority to free up traffic through Richmond, but it would not solve pinch points further north, including along Rocks Rd. “It needs to be a 20-year programme of work,” he said.
Boyack also questioned the potential for a delay to the Hope Bypass. In the NZTA state highway programme, consenting work for the bypass was not scheduled until 2030, three years later than in the Labour Government’s GPS.