Bypass remains on scrapheap
Frustrated community leaders in North Canterbury are urging transport leaders to restart plans for a major roading development that appears ‘‘dead in the water’’.
The Woodend bypass was first confirmed back in 2013 following longstanding safety concerns around the Waimakariri town being divided by a busy State Highway 1.
But the $120 million project has since stalled alongside other safety improvements in the area after being omitted by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s (NZTA) National Land Transport Plan (NLTP).
About 20,000 vehicles drive through the Woodend thoroughfare each day, a 25 per cent increase in over the past few years.
A significant portion of traffic along this road is heavy vehicles.
Woodend-Sefton Community Board chairwoman Shona Powell said the impact of the highway on the town was underestimated by the agency.
‘‘The road is very unsafe,’’ she said.
‘‘It has a huge cost to the town of Woodend because it is difficult for it to be a community.
‘‘It’s a town that is divided in two.’’
Powell said she’d heard local fire volunteers were struggling to get to the station when the siren was activated due to high volumes of traffic.
A signalised crossing outside Woodend School was installed early last year following years of campaigning from locals for a bypass and other safety improvements.
Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey requested an update before Christmas from NZTA on several roading issues north of Christchurch, including the floundering Woodend development.
In correspondence with Doocey’s office, NZTA regional relationships director James
Caygill said there were no plans to progress the project.
‘‘Currently, there is no commitment to progressing the project, and it is not known when funding will be allocated to commence design or construction,’’ he said.
Doocey, who is the National Party’s associate spokesperson for transport, said he felt the district was again being overlooked in favour of pet projects in the bigger centres.
‘‘It’s hugely disappointing,’’ he said.
‘‘When you look at NZTA’s own metrics around the volume of traffic movement that goes through Woodend and it being classed as a rural-urban road, it meets all the criteria for investment into it.
‘‘We have a legacy of a road that was committed to but now it is dead in the water.’’
Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon has taken his concerns to NZTA chief executive Nicole Rosie and raised matters on several occasions with Transport Minister Michael Wood.
‘‘While there is a need to implement further safety improvements in the short term, construction of the bypass is needed to provide long-term safety benefits and further facilitate development in the eastern part of the district,’’ Gordon said.
‘‘This matter is a priority for me and the council, and we will continue to advocate strongly for this investment to be made.’’
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.