Another road not the answer

It is astonishing to read both Andy Foster and Chris Bishop proclaim that Monday’s traffic gridlock due to a slip on State Highway 2 shows the ‘‘urgent need’’ for a new road linking Petone and Granada July 1.

On the day the slip occurred, public transport through the entire Wellington network was free of charge, but still tens of thousands of commuters chose to take their car into the city, put it in a carpark building all day, and then drive it home again. Foster and Bishop seem to think that taxpayers should be asked to fork out billions of dollars to facilitate this irrational behaviour.

Those of us on public transport whisked home on Monday in trains that were only 50 to 75 per cent full, free of charge. Slips and congestion such as occurred on Monday are relatively rare events, yet when they occur there is bleating that yet another road is the answer.

The fact that gridlock spread up SH1 and SH58 and all through the city shows that in fact traffic just moves to other roads and causes congestion there.

We do have a climate emergency, and a rapidly closing window in which to act. I would expect Bishop and Foster to support solutions that will actually address this crisis and not throw more money away on roading fantasies.

Michael Pringle, Tawa