Some points for your submission on the flyover

With the due date for submissions on the Proposed Regional Land Transport Programme (RLTP) looming - they are due on Friday 24th April at 5pm - I thought it a good time to highlight some points that you may like to put in your submission relating specifically to SH1 at the Basin Reserve. It is this part of the RLTP - SH1 at the Basin Reserve - that may result in construction of a flyover at the Basin Reserve.

1) The Local Government Act, 2002 was designed to encourage community participation in local governance and, as such, a key aspect of local authorities' role is to listen to their communities' input before making a decision. This makes it all the more curious that both the Wellington City Council and the Greater Wellington Regional Council have chosen to ignore previous consultation relating to the flyover in which a resounding 79% of submissions on the Ngauranga to Wellington Airport Plan were OPPOSED to a flyover being built at the Basin Reserve.

2) Building a flyover at the Basin Reserve will simply shift congestion from one side of the Basin Reserve to the other placing increased pressure on the Mount Victoria tunnel which will inevitably lead to duplication of said tunnel at a cost of over $170 million. The flyover at the Basin Reserve must therefore be priced with this in mind - it thus becomes a project worth in the vicinity of $220 million!

3) The Proposed Regional Land Transport Programme (pg. 39) purports that the planned 'grade separation' at the Basin Reserve (i.e. flyover) meets the environmental objectives of the New Zealand Transport Strategy (NZTS). These objectives include to:
- "Halve per capita greenhouse gas emissions from domestic transport by 2040;
- Reduce the kilometres traveled by single occupancy vehicles in major urban areas on weekdays by 10% per capita by 2015 compared to 2007"

It is pretty clear that building a flyover at the Basin Reserve will not achieve these objectives, but, rather, it will induce demand and thereby increase greenhouse gas emissions from the city's transport sector. The authors of the Proposed Regional Land Transport Programme are quite simply lying that the plans for SH1 at the Basin Reserve will meet the NZTS environmental objectives. I imagine that the authors assume that we will take their word for it, not having the time to go and check their facts. This is not only dishonest but manipulative and indicates that they may well have already made their decision.

However, we must not lose hope! We must make submissions to hold them to account and make it clear that we know what they are intending to do. It is most important that we put our opinions and knowledge on paper so that we have a paper trail.

So please, make a submission, it is imperative that the authorities know that we do not want more roads in our city.

The following links may be helpful in researching your submission:
Proposed Regional Land Transport Programme;
New Zealand Transport Strategy;
Save the Basin Trust's form submission available here;
Greater Wellington Regional Council email address for sending submissions: info@gw.govt.nz