Residents in the rural Wellington suburb of Takapu Valley say they’re being constantly disturbed by noise from the newly opened Transmission Gully road, and want to see something done to fix it.
The residents expected ‘white noise’ from passing traffic, but say a ‘clunking’ noise is coming from joins in the bridge when cars pass over them.
“It's the kerthunk, your mind just can't block out,” resident Dave Watson says.
“It's a quiet, rural valley. For six years we've put up with convoys of cars coming up and down, concrete trucks on a small narrow road. We've all known it was going in but now we've got this new noise that's very noticeable.”
Ventia, which is managing maintenance for the new road says the joins are necessary to allow for steel expansion, but Watson and other residents want to see something done to dampen the noise, like planting work on the bank closest to Bridge 20, where the noise is coming from.
“There's no remediation work that’s gone on whatsoever, this could have been planted three years ago,” Watson says.
Resident Garth Hickling says he’s surprised how far down the valley the noise travels.
“Belmont Regional Park’s right there, who wants to come for a tramp around the hills and listen to a motorway? They’ve ruined that as well which is quite sad.”
Fellow local and former asphalt technician Mike Dickens says he also can’t understand why the section of the road near Takapu Valley is chip seal, when other parts of Transmission Gully which are near residential areas are asphalt.
“With chip seal it just creates more noise… everybody’s who’s driven on it will notice the difference between the asphalt surface and the chip seal. The hill over the saddle has been done in asphalt which is far longer-wearing anyway. I think it’s juts been done for cost really.
“What they really need to do is to resurface this section in asphalt and give us all a break, the people of Porirua, Whitby and here.”
Ventia wouldn’t be interviewed, but told 1News in a statement that the road traffic noise will be “a permanent change in the sound environment” for locals.
It said while the Transmission Gully builder will be checking noise levels, “the project believes the consented noise mitigations have fully satisfied the requirements of the NZ Standard.
“There are no plans to re-surface Transmission Gully. We are not considering more mitigations at this time.”
MP for Ohariu Greg O’Connor went to check out the noise last week and says he’ll be appealing to Ventia to do something.
“There's no obvious immediate resolution, but I'll be talking to Ventia to see if there's some sort of mitigation by way of planting because it’s a very real issue for these residents.
“I would challenge Wellingtonians driving there to hear the clunk at Bridge 20, that noise has got to go somewhere, it’s pretty annoying for those residents.”
Dickens says he wants Ventia to “take responsibility”.
“Things can be done and I think they should do it, they’re shirking their responsibility by not taking part in this.”
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