Let’s Get Wellington Moving is scrapped – but not all pieces of the project are gone.
The Government has agreed to fund the planned $1.4 billion second Mount Victoria tunnel, along with the $773.5 million upgrade to the Basin Reserve.
More than $160 million was spent on the now scrapped transport project for the capital.
Greater Wellington Regional Councillor Thomas Nash said a lot of funding went on engineering, geotech and planning reports for the new tunnels around the Basin Reserve and Mount Victoria – some of which could still be utilised.
One of the project’s options was to dedicate the second tunnel to walking and cycling.
But Transport Minister Simeon Brown has previously rejected this proposal and said there should be "four lanes for traffic".
"We do not share the previous government’s approach to dedicating an entire tunnel to walking and cycling."
With the Government funding the second tunnel and scrapping the walking and cycling plan, local councils are now picking up projects such as bus priority lanes and improvements to the Golden Mile in the CBD to improve gridlocks in the capital.
It’s a compromise some aren’t happy with.
"This plan that has been agreed to is not what Wellingtonian’s voted for," Nash said.
Cycling Action Network project manager Patrick Morgan agrees and said the second tunnel will increase congestion and pollution.
“This is a really bad idea which could be rejected because it’s unworkable and, frankly, we can’t afford it.”
The need for a second tunnel at Mount Victoria was identified as far back as the 1980s.
Consultation started on the second tunnel in 2011 and, by 2015, the local-central government project Let’s Get Wellington Moving took over.
But with this now gone, a new plan for the capital is being drawn up.
Carrying on with the second Mount Victoria tunnel was a key transport promise for National in the election.
Waka Kotahi said it will now set up a team to finish a business case for the project, and work on the tunnel and basin upgrade is not expected to start for at least two years.
It’s the latest Government commitment to reduce cycleway spending and focus on roads – whether locals like it or not.
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