Opinion: Transmission Gully bus trip leaves positive impression

Kāpiti has about 10,000 people who commute to work, mostly in Wellington. Photo / Mark Tantrum

Weekly column by Kāpiti Mayor K. Gurunathan

Ten million cubic metres of material was moved. This included the 1 million cut 70m down into the Wainui Saddle at the apex. It's one measure of the colossal Transmission Gully project set to finally open to traffic this month. Quite a lot of people have been sceptical about TG opening given that we have had five false starts. Understandable, but I think it's the real McCoy this time.

On Monday, we were taken on a bus trip through the whole route. I have been taken up twice before when it was under full-blown construction and looking brutally awesome. The nearly finished road now looked tamed in comparison. But what did particularly impress me was the latticework of drainage channelling the waterways everywhere into a system of stormwater run-offs and streams. This hydraulic engineering will be tested given the rigours of intensive localised rain events starting to happen with climate change.

Legend has it that the idea of the TG project was first mooted during World War II when the US Marines were based in Paekākāriki and camps at Pauatahanui and Judgeford Valley. Some say there is no documented evidence for this folklore. Well, whatever the origins we now have a 27km expressway carved across this hilly landscape.

As with any transport infrastructure, there are economic spinoffs. There were the early investors snapping up cheap land in Kāpiti in anticipation of a future boom. There has been an injection of money and work over the past 10 years from the construction. With the road opening there will be a greater attraction for more people to move to Kāpiti because the journey times between Wellington, Porirua and Kāpiti will be shorter. The time between Kāpiti and Wellington will be cut by 15 minutes. The faster trip will include that important element of all journeys — certainty. You know that you will reach your destination, and keep appointments, on time.

To the faster journey and certainty of time you can add safety. The new expressway is designed for greater safety and, with the anticipated significant drop in the number of vehicles on the old SH1, the safety level on the old route will also increase. The fourth element is security. TG is designed with better earthquake resilience. With two routes in and out of Wellington, security and safety during any major civil emergency like earthquakes will increase. From an economic development viewpoint, when the Government has invested $1.25 billion on this infrastructure project, it makes sense for the Government to leverage this investment to directly encourage other developments such as investments in social housing.

The opening of TG also comes at a critical time when we are facing economic challenges, and a timely boost in economic activity will be welcomed. Wellington City has always been a strong contributor to Kapiti's regional tourism trade. The shorter, pleasant, and easier journey will encourage that decision to go to the Kāpiti Coast to enjoy all it has to offer including the beach, food and nature.

There is another factor to consider. Kāpiti has about 10,000 people who commute to work, mostly in Wellington. With half of them travelling by car. Peak-time traffic congestion is a common experience. This is especially so when, after a hard day's work, you are driving back to the Coast. You get caught in the traffic jam north of Plimmerton. The jam gets considerably worse if there has been an accident. A 50-minute trip home has been known to take up to four hours. Stress no one needs in their hardworking lives. And the loss in productivity.

Lastly, TG will make the trip from Kāpiti to Wellington Airport and Wellington Hospital easier except for one thing. The Wellington City bottleneck! TG will inadvertently highlight the fact that the mantra of "Let's Get Wellington Moving" will turn from being a bad joke to becoming a really bad joke.