What is Let’s Get Wellington Moving?
The $6.4 billion transport programme has the potential to completely change how the city lives and moves in the future, Joel Macmanus reports.
Let’s Get Wellington Moving is a $6.4 billion programme of transport projects which will be constructed in Wellington over the next 10-plus years.
It is Wellington’s largest transport infrastructure programme and has the potential to completely change how the city lives and moves in the future.
The programme is jointly funded and run by three partners: Wellington City Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council, and central government through Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.
What are the goals of Let’s Get Wellington Moving?
The stated goal of Let’s Get Wellington Moving is to move more people with fewer vehicles. It aims to make Wellington less congested, more compact, and more sustainable.
Planners have been instructed to make reducing carbon emissions the most important priority when weighing up options.
Earlier this year, councillors gave instructions to Let’s Get Wellington Moving on how to weight projects: Cutting carbon emissions by reducing reliance on private vehicles – 40 per cent; Enhancing urban livability – 20 per cent; Improving safety – 15 per cent; More efficient and reliable access – 15 per cent; Resilience – 10 per cent.
What projects are Let’s Get Wellington Moving planning to build?
Let’s Get Wellington Moving is working on a range of projects from billion-dollar cityshapers, to minor tweaks at pedestrian crossings. Many projects are still in the early stages of development and details not yet confirmed. The projects are split into three major programmes of works:
Transformational programme: The large flagship projects
Mass Rapid Transit: A new public transport system, likely light rail or trackless trams, will be built, starting from Wellington railway station. The route is not yet confirmed but will likely be either to Island Bay or towards Miramar via Wellington Airport.
State Highway Improvements: A project to rework the roads around Mount Victoria and the Basin Reserve to reduce pinch points. This could likely include a second tunnel parallel to the existing tunnel, or possibly converting the Hataitai bus tunnel to walking and cycling.
Travel demand management: An as-yetunconfirmed scheme designed to disincentivise people from driving into the city centre and encourage other modes of transport. This could likely be some form of congestion charging or a parking levy.
City Streets: Medium-sized commuter changes
City Streets is a $350 million package designed to improve public transport, cycling, and walking improvements on 19 key commuter corridors into the city. The largest part of the package is a series of bus priority lanes. It also includes a series of cycleways in the central city.
The city streets package will be built over 10-12 years.
Three-year programme: Small tweaks that could make a big difference
Golden Mile transformation: Private vehicles will be removed from the Golden Mile from the Beehive end of Lambton Quay to the end of Courtenay Place. Footpaths widened by up to 75 per cent and bus-only lanes in each direction will run along the entire stretch. A number of sidestreets will be blocked off.
Central city speed limit changes: The speed limit on most central city streets has changed from 50kmh to 30kmh, except on main arterial roads. This change was implemented in July 2020. Thorndon Quay and Hutt Road: A new separated two-way cycle lane and part-time bus lanes in both directions. Cobham Drive crossing: A new pedestrian crossing with traffic lights and a slower speed limit on Cobham Drive towards the airport.
Central city walking improvements: A series of subtle changes to intersections to make it safer, quicker and easier to cross, and to get to and from the waterfront. Will include changes to traffic light timing, new crossings, and speed bumps.
What projects are not included?
A number of other projects were considered in the programme but ultimately not approved for funding. These included: an extra Terrace tunnel, a long tunnel underneath Te Aro for State Highway 1, a bridge over part of the Basin Reserve, and a congestion fee to drive into the city during peak times.
Let’s Get Wellington Moving is not a new transport agency for Wellington, and each of the partners are still working on their own major transport projects outside the Let’s Get Wellington Moving programme.
For example, Wellington City Council recently approved a $226m budget to build a roughly 70km network of cycleways over the next decade, and Waka Kotahi is building the Te Ara Tupa cycleway between Wellington and Petone, as well as a number of state highway projects north of the city.
Who is in charge of Let’s Get Wellington Moving?
Wellington City Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council and Waka
Kotahi must all approve any major decisions.
Funding for the project is split with 60 per cent covered by central government and 40 per cent by local government.
Let’s Get Wellington Moving has its own offices and staff, led by Acting Director David Dunlop.
The programme is overseen by a Governance Reference Group and a Partnership Board.
The Governance Reference Group is made up of elected officials from WCC and GWRC, Mana Whenua representatives, and senior executives from Waka Kotahi.
The group provides advice to the programme and helps to steer its priorities.
The Partnership Board is made up of senior officials from each of the three organisations, and is led by independent chair Dave Brash.
Minister for Transport Michael Wood also has a lot of oversight authority over the project, and has issued instructions to all three partners in the past.
What controversies has it had?
The programme has been criticised repeatedly for delays and a lack of progress, which led to a scathing ‘‘health check’’ report released in February which found the programme was ‘‘at risk of failing to deliver’’, and needed to be reformed.
Former associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter was embroiled in the ‘‘secret letter’’ saga after she wrote to former Transport Minister Phil Twyford saying she would only support the programme if the mass rapid transit system was built before an extra Mt Victoria tunnel.
The construction schedule for the tunnel was pushed back from 2024 to 2029. Bringing the tunnel forward again was a key platform for National in the 2020 election and for Wellington mayor Andy Foster in the 2019 local body election.
The Golden Mile plans have drawn backlash from some retailers on the streets, who are concerned about the loss of parking spaces on side streets and access for service vehicles.
Progress Wellington, a group of businesses led by the Chamber of Commerce, formed in opposition to the Cobham Drive pedestrian crossing, will likely continue to be a major force as the programme continues.
What could change in the future?
Major details are still up in the air. It is likely the $6.4b price tag announced in
2019 may increase.
The business cases for Mass Rapid Transit and the Mt Victoria tunnel are due towards the end of 2021 and will reveal more details about the locations, direction, and projected costs of the projects.
Every project still must go through a process of public consultation and be signed off by councillors before any construction begins.