No 'silver bullet' to fix congestion in Wellington says transport team

Traffic around the Basin Reserve in Wellington can become badly congested. Photo/file

There's no "silver bullet" to fix congestion problems in Wellington's CBD, but the team focusing on the issue hopes a combination of solutions will help.

Let's Get Wellington Moving has released a progress report on the work the programme partners are doing to improve transport through the city, an issue that will only get more urgent as population increases.

"By 2043, projections suggest there will be 46,000 more people living in Wellington City, including 24,000 more jobs," said director Barry Mein.

"Wellington Airport expects passenger numbers to more than double between 2010 and 2030. That means more people travelling into, out of, and through central Wellington.

"Given traffic congestion is already high - especially in the morning peak - Wellington needs to make some critical decisions so the city can make the most of the great things it has to offer."

Mein said they spent a good part of last year talking to people in Wellington about what the issues and problems were with transport.

"We've got a congestion issue, which isn't unusual in major cities. The problem with Wellington is we've got a very constrained system which runs through the CBD . . . there's a small number of quite congested corridors and not a lot of alternatives."

Mein said they had "a very wide range of possible ideas" on how to sort the problem, and were looking at "pulling those together into various packages".

"We're not looking at single solutions, because I think that's patently not going to work."

Instead they would look at combinations of ideas to address the congestion issue.

This would include improving roads and public transport, cycling and walking networks, and looking at pricing options.

"We need to look at things on a much more holistic basis. It's not one location and it's not one particular silver bullet," he said.

Options might include "adding capacity", making intersection improvements, or "relocating traffic" off congested streets, which meant relocating by public transport or walking or cycling.

He said the team would engage with the public in May over a shortlist of scenarios, and hoped to come up with a "preferred scenario" around the middle of the year.