Richard Walters: Small communities sent back up the boohai

The toll road has been cost and time effective but many will now be forced to used the old roads. Photo / Greg Bowker

It would seem that history is about to repeat itself for communities of the lower Mahurangi, Waiwera, Puhoi and Mahurangi West and their hinterlands.

I understand the term "up the boohai" derives from Puhoi's isolation in the 19th-century - it was literally and figuratively difficult to get there.

There were no roads; the Puhoi River and a few bush tracks were the settlements' only links to the outside world. A steamer would call once a fortnight, and tie up until the next tide. However, the community prospered, and kauri from the hills helped build Auckland. Roading projects (sound familiar?) helped the community through lean times, and a road of sorts spanned the Puhoi River on a swing bridge, which opened to admit the steamer.

The bridge was destroyed in the 1920s as the result of accident and flood, and rebuilt as a fixed span bridge and the steamer could no longer get up the river. As a result, the community suffered.

I would equate this turning point to the proposal being put forward by the NZ Transport Agency for the motorway extension to Warkworth and Wellsford which does not include any access for these coastal communities. But that's not all.

State Highway One grew out of the early settler roads, and in this area, it still shows. The road from Orewa to Waiwera and on to Puhoi is steep, winding and inadequate. The road north of Puhoi - Schedewys Hill and Pohuehue are steep and dangerous, too.

So it was with much expectation that the long-delayed Northern Gateway was opened in 2009, bringing 21st-century roading to Puhoi's doorstep through two wonderful tunnels. Previous attempts to push the motorway north had ended at Silverdale, then Grand Drive, Orewa, with the result that North Rodney traffic was forced to travel use a route through Orewa's town centre and suburban streets, a bone of contention for many years, as the consultation and construction dragged on.

The Northern Gateway Toll road is a pleasure to use, the engineering superb, and the care with which the bush has been treated is amazing.

Our family initially thought that use of the tolled section would be, for us, only in emergency; or when we were in a hurry, or on wet and windy nights.

Not so. It is cost and time-effective for me, a self-employed builder, to use the toll road to get to Silverdale, and safely return with a trailer load of building materials. My wife works in Warkworth, Red Beach and Takapuna on a regular basis - on Red Beach and Takapuna days the toll road is used.

Visitors and friends are amazed how quickly they can get to see us.

All this will end if the Transport Agency goes ahead with its plan to have no exits/entries between Orewa and Warkworth - not even a south-bound on/off ramp.

We will go back to using the old roads (Waiwera was partly blocked by falling rocks the other day) and through the streets of Orewa, which is just beginning to become pedestrian-friendly.

At hastily-organised "information" session, Transport Agency representatives gave give a PowerPoint show to a room packed with locals. The only question they wanted answered was "why are we (Mahurangi/Puhoi/Waiwera ) not getting proper motorway access, but also losing the access we enjoy at present?" The answer was:

*A mixture of fudge and rocky road. Apparently the planners are worried that exposing Mahurangi/Puhoi/Waiwera to intensifying development pressure resulting from access to a motorway interchange would not be in their best interests. The Rodney District Council structure plans for the area indicated public submissions supported this.

Hold on. When the structure plans were drawn up, there were no plans to extend the motorway north of Puhoi for at least 14 years. So that would not have figured in the consultation.

*Cost. It is expensive to build an interchange, and Puhoi etc didn't warrant it, not being identified as a "growth area" in the ARC regional planning strategies.

*The aim of the motorway extension to facilitate traffic flow between Auckland and Northland, was a political decision and directive.

Many people north of Waiwera have been included in the Auckland Super City against their wishes, a politically-driven decision that went against public submissions and Parliamentary select committee recommendations.

So to be told we are effectively not worth bothering about in terms of motorway access to Auckland, is a double slap in the face. Are we part of Auckland or not?

Apparently it depends on whose interests are being served; they want our rates/tax/gst but only for purposes that suit them. The social dimension often fails to make the cut.

Disruption during and following construction, disaster eventualities, access to emergency services, access for emergency services, all need addressing.

So what chance does a small community or collection of communities have to influence what appears to be a foregone conclusion that is politically-driven rather than meeting the social needs of those communities?

We can only keep doing what we have been doing, submitting forms, appearing before committees, raising petitions - this is, after all, a democracy.

- Richard Walters is a self-employed tradesman living in Puhoi. He is involved in local environmental issues and the Puhoi Farmers Market.