Bombshell dropped on Kapiti

12 September 2009

Warwick Halcrow – reprinted from Wotzon.com

No bombs went off during our blissful holiday in Bali but we came home to a community in shock courtesy of the new Minister of Transport.

Described by Kapiti Coast Mayor-Jenny Rowan –as a “bombshell”- Steven Joyce’s sudden announcement of an intended four lane expressway through the Kapiti Coast has caused huge concern in our community -and rightly so.

The Minister and his minions’ have not only hit us with a massive project that will have huge ramifications on the lives of virtually all in the district but have had the audacity to originally put forward only two equally odious options and demand a decision be made in a mere six weeks.

Another ugly aspect is the duplicitous and secretive manner in which the Minister and the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) have gone about this.

Describing it as “an appalling, unintelligent and insensitive process” Mayor Rowan says, “It took them six months to arrive at two options to dump on us which will result in our community being trashed, one way or another. In just three weeks we have found a range of much less destructive alternatives. I have to ask what they have been doing.”

No doubt there will be those living outside the district whose only concern is being able to race through Kapiti a few minutes faster who will say “shut up and accept this as progress you whining ‘N.I.M.B.Y’s’ ( Not In My Back Yard).

But if the definition of progress is fifty tonne juggernauts thundering from Auckland to Wellington at a hundred plus kilometres an hour then why should a significant and beautiful community accept massive upheaval and severance for what is fast becoming an out moded method of transport.

Like or not the last Government decided to buy back the Railway which has the yet to be proven potential to be a very efficient means of moving goods.

There are many in this community who suspect the heavy trucking industry has had an influence on the Minister’s views.

To simply write off the thousands of Coasters who are refusing to bow to the Minister’s decree as ‘anti progress Luddites’ is mistaken. Virtually everyone in this community regards the present State Highway as a massive problem.

Coasters more than anyone suffer the consequences of the neglectful state of this now called ‘road of national significance’ through accidents and congestion mostly caused by trucks and traffic passing through the district.

The Kapiti community supports and helps fund the’ Emergency Medical Service’ mainly because of the horrendous accidents on State Highway One often caused by drivers from outside the district.

The Kapiti Coast has developed its own major, partial solution through the Western Link Road project that is or rather was all set to start before the Minister dropped his bombshell.

The community has already invested twenty-four million dollars into this road that will take a significant amount of local traffic off the main highway reducing congestion and providing a safer alternative route from Raumati South to Peka Peka with a much needed second bridge across the Waikanae River.

The Western Link will also provide an alternative if the main highway is impeded.

The Minister and the NZTA were fully aware that the Kapiti Council was pressing forward to commence work while they were developing their secretive expressway plans which now threaten to delay or significantly change this important local road.

In an apparent nod to the level of local reaction the Minister has just now decided to instruct the NZTA to add incorporation of a partial four lane section of the Western Link Road as a third option and extend the consultation period to the end of October.

Still no good says Mayor Rowan as this will delay the project by up to five years or more and create a huge barrier dividing the district.

Which ever way the final decision goes The Coast faces a potential disaster because of the Minister’s insistence that the new road be an ‘expressway’ -a massive monstrosity that will severely damage and divide our community forever.