Dippy Kapiti Expressway names ahead

Fancy a drive along the Conrad Barnes Tinder Surprise Conception Sensual Expressway?

That’s one of the suggested names for the 18-kilometre stretch of the old State Highway 1 north of Wellington that has been superseded by the Kapiti Expressway.

Kapiti Coast District Council’s $100,000 renaming process, funded by the NZ Transport Agency, attracted 1077 submissions.

Thirty-one suggestions have been ruled out for failing to meet the naming criteria. They include the Tinder one, Roadie McRoad Face, Bob, and the Kapiti Back Passage.

Names that did meet the criteria include the puzzling Zanini Rd, Corrine O’Neill, and Ghost Rd.

The stretch of road from Raumati South to Peka Peka is to become a local road, and the council has suggested breaking it into seven new sections, to be given Maori names linked to historic people and groups.

That led to controversy when some residents claimed the suggested names would be too hard to pronounce.

Among those who submitted on the seven-section approach, iwi names were the most popular in three sections.

These were Hurumutu for the first section in the south, Katu for section 6, and Matene Te Whiwhi for section 7.

Variations on Main Rd featured strongly in all of the sections.

Well-known locals received some support in the naming proposals. They included suggestions for the Nathan Guy Highway, or simply The Guy Way, after Otaki MP Nathan Guy.

There was a suggestion for Peter Jackson Way, Road or Highway, after the Kapiti College old boy; or Len Southward Drive, after the founder of the district’s motoring museum.

Suggestions for individual sections included Ariel, Wai-not, the Peace Highway, and Stephen [sic] Joyce Rd, after locally raised Finance Minister Steven Joyce.

Kapiti’s community boards will make recommendations over the next month, with the council aiming to have a report for a decision by the end of October.

Kapiti Mayor K Gurunathan said there could be a mix of iwi and other names applied in a decision.

However, ‘‘at the moment I don’t think any of the councillors are in a position to say which way it will go’’.

There could be a branding name on top of any specific names – such as the Kapiti Coast Byway – to draw people to what was now a less-used route.

‘‘The new expressway has completely taken over,’’ Gurunathan said.

‘‘It is so well designed, landscaped beautifully. The view from there of Kapiti Island and the hills, you can’t get it anywhere else.’’