Artist’s visualisation of a second Mt Victoria Tunnel in Wellington. Photo \/ NZTA<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is estimated that the project<\/a> will take approximately 6-8 years to construct,\u201d a spokesman for the agency said.<\/p>\n Rogers, a Green Party councillor, told the Herald the disruption from a decade of preparation and works will make it \u201cincredibly difficult for the city centre to stay alive\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe solution to Wellington\u2019s traffic problems are not building more tunnels.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe land is incredibly expensive, the disruption will be massive and there are far easier solutions on the table. like congestion charging or improving our public transport. that could be implemented much quicker and would be much more feasible for Wellington,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Rogers criticised NZTA\u2019s secrecy around the plans and timeline, saying there has been \u201ca significant amount of information lacking from NZTA\u2019s consultation\u201d.<\/p>\n Major components of the mega-plan include a second Mt Victoria Tunnel with two eastbound lanes and a walking and cycling path, a second Terrace Tunnel with two southbound lanes, and changes to the Basin Reserve, including grade separation of state highway and local traffic.<\/p>\n It also proposes three lanes on Vivian St in the city centre.<\/p>\n The changes would shorten travel times for trips from outside the city to the airport, CBD, or hospital by up to 10 minutes at peak times.<\/p>\n It is being considered for Fast-Track consenting<\/a> and public feedback is open until December 14.<\/p>\n Bishop said while main construction won\u2019t start until 2029, subject to funding approval, early works can begin next year, allowing him to deliver on an election promise of having spades in the ground for the Mt Victoria tunnel component before the next election.<\/p>\n National campaigned in 2023 on the project, which it expected at the time to cost $2.2 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bishop has said the current roading layout \u201ccauses frustration and delay to people just trying to live their lives and go about their day\u201d.<\/p>\n He recently warned of the \u201cchallenges\u201d the Government faces in delivering the Roads of National Significance programme, saying the whole package would cost $56 billion if delivered in full over the next 20 years.<\/p>\n \u201cHard choices lie ahead. Not everyone is going to get what they want, exactly when they want it,\u201d Bishop said at the Roading Industry Conference last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a statement he said the Government will have more to say on a \u201cclear plan for delivery\u201d, including prioritisation for funding and delivery, in the coming months.<\/p>\n An investment case for the plans show it has a benefit-cost ratio of 0.7\u20141.2, meaning for every dollar spent on the changes it would provide $0.70-1.20 of benefits.<\/p>\n The roads would likely be tolled, Bishop earlier said, noting it would allow for further revenue stream to fund the investment, as well as ongoing revenue for maintenance.<\/p>\n NZTA said public consultation would be undertaken on tolling once construction funding is confirmed.<\/p>\n A second Mt Victoria tunnel has been long-debated in the capital.<\/p>\n A pilot tunnel was bored in the 1970s but plans were shelved the following decade due to budget constraints.<\/p>\n The debate was reignited when a second tunnel was planned in the now-killed Let\u2019s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) project<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ethan Manera<\/a> is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artist’s visualisation of a second Mt Victoria Tunnel in Wellington. Photo \/ NZTA \u201cIt is estimated that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4500,124,380,22048,1872,2082,71,85429,15902,29819,661,10048,11692,111,43,139,69,5256,3263,57919,8466,37229,11987,61,112,36199,108650,2821,5273,52,108649],"class_list":["post-166486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-changes","tag-could","tag-decade","tag-disruption","tag-face","tag-for","tag-from","tag-improvements","tag-innercity","tag-involving","tag-major","tag-mt","tag-nearly","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-overhaul","tag-project","tag-roading","tag-second","tag-sh1","tag-sweeping","tag-to","tag-transport","tag-tunnel","tag-tunnels","tag-victoria","tag-wait","tag-wellington","tag-wellingtonians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Wellington City Councillor Geordie Rogers doesn’t believe the multi-billion dollar project will fix Wellington’s traffic woes. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
Artist’s impression of the Basin Reserve area, Wellington, as part of the NZTA’s proposal for State Highway 1 in Wellington. Photo \/ NZTA<\/p>\n
Christopher Luxon, flanked by Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop, announced in 2023 a National-lead government would build a second Mt Victoria tunnel in their first term, during a stand-up at the Basin Reserve, Wellington. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n