Just build a tunnel in Remutakas

Waka Kotahi is planning safety changes on State Highway 2 (Nov 18).

It intends to introduce new speed limits and make improvements ‘‘between Hutt Valley and the Remutaka Hill in a bid to make it safer for motorists’’. It’s all part of the Road to Zero strategy.

What else is new? According to the report, there have been 2300 crashes in the last decade. Already users experience roadwork delays, especially at night, winter woes and parades of logging trucks.

Maybe it’s time to bite the bullet and stick a tunnel through the hill. Over time the road is only going to get busier and those Fulton Hogan crews will be permanently occupied keeping us safe.

I know, I know, the number crunchers say the finances don’t add up for such a highway. It is SH2 after all.

Let’s think ahead and start planning for a tunnel, instead of seemingly endless maintenance on what is a substandard piece of road.

Douglas Maclachlan, Masterton