Gorge route pleases mayors

The Tararua and Manawatu¯ mayors are delighted at the option chosen for the Manawatu¯ Gorge replacement route, although it is not the one they lobbied for.

Their joy comes from the NZ Transport Agency’s decision to create a business case looking into a regional freight ring road, which would link Manawatu¯ ’s growing transport and logistics hubs. The agency announced on Friday its preferred route would go north of the Manawatu¯ Gorge, but south of the Saddle Rd bypass.

Traffic will use the bridge already going across the Manawatu¯ River east of Ashhurst, but veer north just before the Manawatu¯ Gorge entry, go east across the range, then head down the other side into Woodville.

State Highway 3 through the gorge has been closed since April.

The agency had put out four options for consultation: A route north of the Saddle Rd; improving the Saddle Rd; a road starting just north of Palmerston North but well south of Ashhurst; and the option it has chosen.

The Manawatu¯ mayors had lobbied for the option just north of Palmerston North, but all spoken to by were happy with the result.

Transport agency spokeswoman Emma Speight said the chosen route was safer than the southern one, which would have seen the road go between two fault lines at one point. Speight put 2020 as a construction start date. The work is expected to be complete by 2024.