In 2014, we found that we lost the benefit of the quiet road surface when the New Zealand Transport Agency covered over it in an attempt to hold off re-surfacing as long as possible.
We found this out after the fact, and met with NZTA, only to be told it would be 2-3 years before re-surfacing.
Over 10 years since these mitigation measures were put in place, traffic on the expressway has increased significantly, particularly the heavy traffic.
Port traffic, for instance, has doubled and is forecast to continue to do so with port expansion. So mitigation measures should be increasing, not being stripped away.
Other areas, such as Marine Pde and Georges Dr complained about heavy traffic and got it moved from their area.
There has been a general trend to push the heavy traffic on to the expressway.
We complain but get nothing.
We accept that we can't move it, but we want mitigation; this is a residential area too.
What was reasonable mitigation 10 years ago would be less than adequate now, and a pittance 10 years from now.
Unfortunately, during this time, the focus has become more on economic performance and less on environmental and social well-being.
In March 2016, after being told resurfacing was still two years away, a deputation was made to this (land transport) committee, by Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre, about concerns regarding the expressway, the volume and size of heavy vehicles and resulting pollution.
The chairman asked Chuck Dowdell (NZTA) to meet the residents and report back to the next RTC meeting.
This meeting took place in April, but by the June RTC meeting, Mr Dowdell had moved from his job and no report was made.
When we meet NZTA we are typically asked what it is we want, and then get told why it can't be done.
We understand that the local office can't make the decisions, that only happened when the CEO came up and took ownership of the problem.
NZTA works on theories and modelling, but we, the residents, live with the reality.
The 2015 data from NZTA shows two to three heavy vehicles per hour between 2am and 5am.
Our monitoring in 2017 shows 138 heavy vehicles in that same three hour time frame.
(NZTA 2015 data, midnight to 8am, 130-140 trucks - our data in 2017 - 481 trucks from 12 to 8am).
People in Wellington tell us that the concrete safety barriers on the sides of the overbridge act as noise barriers.
The residents can tell you that there are no concrete safety barriers on the Kennedy Rd overbridge.
Last month we were advised that there may be an opportunity to resurface the Kennedy Road overbridge section of the expressway early this summer. That is promising, but it hasn't been confirmed yet and we don't know to what extent.
The Westminster Ave section is just as important as the Clarence Cox Cres and Downing Ave sections.
Once the quiet surface has been reinstated, we will only be back to where we were 10 years ago, we then need to move forward with further mitigation to compensate for the increasing traffic.
So, I'm not going to offer any more suggestions, I'm simply saying that we need the members of this committee to work together to find solutions.
This committee has access to the experts - the planners, the designers, the engineers, the builders - you know the problems, you find the solutions.
And to the councillors, "you are our representatives, you advocate for us locally and in Wellington".
The appropriate decision makers need to come up here and meet with the residents, talk to them, listen to them and see the problems first hand, and then address the problems.
There are different issues on different sections of the expressway.
I'm not here to prove our case again, that was done back in 2005 with PCE report and the subsequent retrofitting of low noise surface.
The problem has not gone away, it just needs to be addressed.
Janet Crispin is from the Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre
Napier Heavy Traffic Community ForumViews expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz
