Transport progress slow ... but it’s moving

It’s been nine months since Wellington’s $6.4 billion transport programme was announced, so what’s happened since then? Damian George reports.

Things were always going to move slowly in Wellington’s 20-year transport programme, but they are moving.

While major Let’s Get Wellington Moving projects such as an extra Mt Victoria tunnel, a new road at the Basin Reserve, and a mass transit system between the city’s railway station and airport are still many years away, smaller scale changes are well in train.

These include revamping the city’s Golden Mile, reducing speed limits on most CBD streets, introducing bus lanes and safer cycling infrastructure on Thorndon Quay and Hutt Rd, and installing a pedestrian crossing on State Highway 1 at Cobham Drive.

Wellington’s city and regional councils have also committed funding for the first two years of the programme, and agreed to a joint plan to improve bus reliability across the city over 10 years.

But it has not been all smooth sailing. Wellington Mayor Andy Foster is still calling for the $700 million Mt Victoria tunnel project to be brought forward, a view shared by the National Party – which has now made an election promise to build the tunnel sooner – but not by some of Foster’s own councillors.

At the council table, there have been calls to widen the scope of some of the proposals, countered by some by the negative implications that could have on years of planning.

Then there is the small matter of unresolved funding concerns, with Foster bargaining hard for congestion charging to help pay for projects he says the city council cannot currently afford.

‘Quick wins’

The team behind the $6.4 billion Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) programme – made up of representatives from Wellington City Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency – laid out several ‘‘quick wins’’ it hoped to achieve before the meaty stuff began.

One of those was the proposal to lower speed limits to 30kmh on all CBD streets except main arterial routes (the waterfront quays, Cable, Wakefield and Taranaki streets, and Kent/Cambridge Terrace).

Public feedback was mixed on the proposal, with some calling for more streets to be included in the plan and others calling for some to be taken out.

City councillor Iona Pannett wanted the area covered to be extended as far as Oriental Bay and Te Aro, but her suggestion was shut down by other councillors.

A second round of feedback will start on February 24, with submissions to be heard in April and the first changes to occur mid-year.

Meanwhile, public feedback is still open on the proposal to revamp the city’s Golden Mile, which runs from Wellington Railway Station along Lambton Quay, Willis St, Manners St, and Courtenay Place.

The general plan is for private vehicles to be removed from the area to make way for public transport, cyclists, and pedestrians.

A final design will be determined late this year, with changes to be made from early next year.

Options for Thorndon Quay and Hutt Rd will be released to the public later this year, with the first changes also scheduled for early next year, while work on a pedestrian crossing on Cobham Drive will start late this year.

Former councillor and LGWM governance group member Chris Calvi-Freeman revealed last year the preferred option was for a traffic light-controlled crossing on the busy SH1 road.

Bus action plan

The city and regional councils have set aside $14m and $7m respectively for the first two years of the programme.

That includes money for early works over the next two or three years to improve the city’s bus network through things like bus priority at traffic lights, improving bus stop layouts and locations, and tweaking clearway and bus lane hours.

More significant changes, such as creating city-wide bus lanes, would take up to 10 years to implement and cost up to $290m.

It’s estimated the most intensive changes would save bus commuters between four and 10 minutes in the morning peak.

The big projects

An extra Mt Victoria tunnel and underground bypass near the Basin Reserve are not scheduled to be built until well after 2030, a timeline which not does sit well with Foster.

The current timeline, backed by Transport Minister Phil Twyford and many city and regional councillors, is for a mass transit system to take priority.

Even then, construction of the first section of the public transport system – from the railway station to Newtown – is not scheduled to start until after 2024, with an extension to the airport scheduled to begin after 2029.

Foster and regional council chairman Daran Ponter met with Twyford in November to push their case for a congestion charge to help pay for the programme, but Twyford did not budge.

However, they did at least convince Twyford to keep an open mind over the project’s timeframe, with Twyford saying he was open to discussing the timing of the projects once business cases had been assessed.

Early business case work is scheduled to begin early next year.