The RiverLink project would include a bridge across the Hutt River, with the aim of improving traffic congestion in Lower Hutt City and improving resilience. Photo / RiverLink partners
The RiverLink project would include a bridge across the Hutt River, with the aim of improving traffic congestion in Lower Hutt City and improving resilience. Photo / RiverLink partners
Big roadworks on State Highway 2 through Lower Hutt, called RiverLink, are going to cost more than twice as much as had been budgeted.
The cost of replacing Melling Bridge and putting in a new interchange is now forecast at $1.5 billion, the Government said on Friday.
Its original budget was $700 million, though RNZ reported in late 2023 of rumours it would breach $1b that were denied.
The Government said on Friday the higher cost came despite finding $200m in savings. It agreed to extra funding for the Roads of Regional Significance project.
“The project has been undoubtedly challenging from a cost perspective,” Transport Minister Chris Bishop said in a statement.
The wider programme includes flood protection and “city revitalisation”, with the approximate $1.5b budget met by $1b from NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA), $295m from the Greater Wellington Regional Council and $180m from Hutt City Council.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop: “The project has been undoubtedly challenging from a cost perspective." Photo / Mark Mitchell
It would “start this year” and take six years to replace the old bridge, Bishop said – though dozens of houses and businesses have been demolished in the past two years to make way for it.
However, NZTA would take several more months to finalise the design so it could work as efficiently as possible, he said.
Hutt City Council last year gave a start date of February this year.
The regional council has called having to temporarily shut Melling train station to relocate it south, with extra parking, a “bitter pill” for commuters.
A new walk-and-bike bridge south of the interchange paid for by Hutt City Council was included in the project, ending doubts it would not be funded.
Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry said signing the final agreements and securing funding was a “once-in-a-generation deal” for the city.
“We are ready to go,” Barry said in a statement on Friday.
The stretch of SH2 at Melling carried 40,000 vehicles a day and faced years of roadworks and disruption.
A separate project to replace a big corroded sewer pipe under the highway that was in danger of failing and spewing effluent into Te Awa Kairangi/Hutt River was set to close one lane when work begins shortly.
Melling was “a severe bottleneck for traffic that slows down commuters and freight”, Bishop said.
