Dear Editor
Here are some of the reasons why I don’t support the Kāpiti Expressway.
This is not a local road but a re-routement of State Highway One onto peat and sand dunes, what we know historically to be unstable ground. SH1’s current alignment is no accident. It is on bearing ground hugging the foothills.
There will be limited access for local residents ie. only 3 interchanges planned for locals to get on- and off- the road. The majority of users will be long distance travelers, especially trucks bypassing Kāpiti on their way north or south.
There are only 3 obstacles to free-flowing traffic on the existing SH1 as outlined by R Wood (KC News 14 March 2011). These pinch points could certainly be remedied at a fraction of the cost to the Kāpiti community and NZ taxpayers in general. It is certainly much cheaper and quicker to fix those than to build a massive $550 million road that will take 10 years to construct (at least). It is interesting that how this proposed project could be paid for is being withheld. Anyway, no estimated cost on paper will marry to the actual cost incurred. I wonder when the Minister will concede tolling will become the norm multipoint between Wellington airport and north of Levin?
I do understand Darren Hughes stance. The expressway won’t go ahead under a Labour government because amongst other reasons, it is unnecessary and uneconomic. Kāpiti coasters and indeed all New Zealand taxpayers are getting a raw deal because there is a better option. The Western Link Road was close to tender before Steven Joyce came in with his bully boy tactics and the ‘think big’ expressway.
R Wood says to ‘get on with the expressway‘. If KCDC had been left alone to get on with the Western Link road, we would have seen construction started by now. You can thank Steven Joyce for yet another waiting period for Kāpiti coasters while he sorts out how to justify a road that is unjustifiable.
Bianca Begovich
Waikanae