$2.3b plan to unlock congestion
Placing part of State Highway 1 into a trench, duplicating the Mt Victoria and Terrace tunnels, and separating traffic near the Basin Reserve have all been recommended to solve Wellington’s traffic congestion woes.
A working group charged with solving the problem revealed its grand transport plans to councillors this week before the final recommendation made its way to the desk of Transport Minister Phil Twyford.
It is understood that the Let’s Get Wellington Moving working group – an initiative led by the New Zealand Transport Agency in partnership with Wellington’s city and regional councils – is leaning towards the most radical of four options proposed last year.
That option, which could cost up to $2.3 billion, includes moving State Highway 1 traffic off Vivian St into a tunnel; widening the Terrace and Mt Victoria tunnels and Ruahine St; separating local and highway traffic at the Basin Reserve; and creating a fourth southbound lane to the urban motorway between Aotea Quay and Ngauranga.
A source close to the project said everything proposed in that scenario was ‘‘still in play’’ as the final recommendation was presented to Twyford.
The transport minister did not respond to requests for comment.
It is understood the plan for the Basin Reserve cricket ground, which sits in the middle of the city’s worst traffic chokepoint, will involve Sussex St running over top of a trenched SH1 route towards the Mt Victoria Tunnel.
Not all of the highway would be trenched but most of the intersections with through-streets would be taken out. Streets that run through the bypass route now include Willis St, Victoria St, Cuba St and Taranaki St.
The scenario also proposed to replace two of the six traffic lanes on the waterfront quays with cycle lanes, establish cycle lanes on a two-way Vivian St, and give more priority to pedestrians along Willis, Victoria, Cuba and Vivian streets.
A mass transit public transport system was recommended from Wellington Railway Station to Wellington Regional Hospital and the airport, via the suburb of Kilbirnie.
The proposal is expected to take several weeks to be assessed by Cabinet, and a public announcement is expected in August.
Programme director Barry Mein said feedback from a public survey, which revealed 63 per cent of respondents supported light rail from the railway station to the airport, would continue to be used to help develop plans.