Highway pledge delights business

Business leaders have welcomed promises by National Party leader Don Brash to finish Waikato's four-lane expressway.

Dr Brash pledged to spend $750 million building the expressway from Mercer to Cambridge within 10 years, with bypasses through Rangiriri, Ngaruawahia, Huntly, Te Rapa, Hamilton and Cambridge.

Transit NZ's draft highways plan, released in February, left bypasses at Hamilton and Huntly off the 10-year plan and put off work for Cambridge and Rangiriri until 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Waikato Chamber of Commerce president Steve Saunders said progress on the projects had been "lamentable".

He said that, although 90 per cent of New Zealand's road traffic travelled through the Waikato, it was due to receive only 10 per cent of the available roading budget.

The region also accounts for 30 per cent of the nation's road deaths, Dr Saunders said.

Transit's announcement had also been heavily criticised by local mayors and Hamilton West Labour MP Martin Gallagher.

Hamilton Mayor Michael Redman said Dr Brash's comments were everything the 14 mayors in the Waikato region had been asking for.

And Waikato District Mayor Peter Harris said the area was the productive hub of New Zealand and it was time the projects were made a priority.

"The expressway is the single most important issue for the Waikato District Council," Mr Harris said.

Motorists were turning off State Highway 1 looking for short cuts, leading to problems on back roads, he added.

Mr Harris said work on Waikato roads was long overdue.

"We are very, very concerned about the Rangiriri bypass; that is our biggest priority.

"You have single-laning between a four-lane expressway and a three-lane highway."

Waikato councils have recently launched a joint campaign to promote the construction of the expressway and bypasses.