Yay inner-city bypass is open
December 29th, 2006 at 12:26 pm by David FarrarYay, after what seems like at least a decade of dithering, the bypass is open. I’ll get to use it later today when I head to the airport.
Of course there were a couple of protesters blocking traffic. Sadly though they were not very committed to theri cause as they only nailed their clothing to the road. If they had nailed themselves to the road, they would have got far more publicity, and it would have taken longer to remove them.
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December 29th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
Better yet, the police could have just left them there. I’m sure there would have been no shortage of volunteers to drive along the bypass.
David, the bypass is open for Northbound traffic only – unless the airport has been moved to Khandallah and you’ve moved to Kilbirnie you still use Ghuznee Street.
Vote:December 29th, 2006 at 1:05 pm
Used it earlier today and can’t see how it can only save 7 minutes in peak time.
The traffic is virtually stationery around the basin and going up Vivian Street shortly after 5pm (must be all the public servants we have) so it has got to save more time than that.
Not sure how you will use it going to the airport though – it’s one way going away from the airport.
Vote:December 29th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Ha! You only get to use it on the way back from the airport: the southbound part hasn’t been completed yet (and in any case the southbound part is just Vivian Street repurposed).
http://www.transit.govt.nz/projects/wicb/
All that kerfuffle… for what? I’m underwhelmed. If anything, I’m even more sympathetic to the anti-crowd than I was before.
Vote:December 29th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
I don’t know how you get to the airport, but I think it unlikely that you’ll be heading in a Northward direction. The Southbound bypass won’t be open for 6 months.
Vote:December 29th, 2006 at 2:40 pm
Its a Claytons bypass.
Still the same number of lights, lanes, and other obstacles.
The only benefit is you can do 80 once you get past Willis St (for 100m).
They should have bowled the whole area, and extended the motorway right through to at least Mt Vic tunnel with overpasses/underpasses, and widened the Terrace Tunnel @ the same time.
I guarantee in 10 years time they will do that anyway, and it will probably have to be tolled.
I’d pay $5 if I could get through town quickly during peak hour.
Scott.
Vote:December 29th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Clearly the length of this project proves that to get anything done you need to be prepared to circumvent the RMA, the pubic finance act and any other pesky impediments to rapid construction. It’s a pity roading projects don’t excite or MP’s like stadiums do.
Vote:December 29th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
From the article “We wanted to protest against climate change and a culture of encouraging the building of more roads.”
So the planet’s better off if those motorists are spending an extra seven minutes each idling in a traffic jam ? Not too bright, these protesters.
Vote:December 29th, 2006 at 10:43 pm
DPF,
Those protestors are a selfish lot – I am glad to see some progress in Wellington’s roading, albeit it minor.
Vote:December 30th, 2006 at 7:57 am
Its all half arsed, we are like somarlia,we are pathetic, HALF a TUNNEL Its all half arsed, we are like somarlia,we are pathetic, HALF a TUNNEL
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December 30th, 2006 at 10:30 am
I drove it yesterday. How is it such a big improvement when there are still level crossings with Taranaki, Cuba, Victoria and Willis Sts? Yeah, it’s wider and straighter, but…
I thought the protesters had been telling us it was a *motorway* extension? ok, technically it is … by a couple of hundred m … the rest is 50 km/h, with traffic lights.
Vote:January 4th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
This is a classic case about how utterly useless politicians are in setting priorities. In the past year there has been enormous noise generated by the likes of Peter Dunne, National MPs, ACT, Porirua and Kapiti Councils and some members of the GWRC about Transmission Gully. Transmission Gully will cost $350 million more than upgrading the coastal route ($1 billion all up), and has a benefit/cost ratio below 1:1 – it is a dog of a project – but there is so much hype about it Labour is now spending $9 million doing the detailed investigation of the route/costings etc. A cheaper solution for this route is rejected as the baaing sheep demand the think big road to north.
Meanwhile because of the noise from the Greens and the complete disinterest from Dunne, ACT and National because none of them know fuck all about transport – Wellington is stuck with the el cheapo bypass approved in the 90s when road funding was a fraction of what is available now. Go to Paremata/Mana – the improvements up there that opened about a year ago are on the SAME SCALE as the bypass.
For the $350 million extra (plus the $40 million spent on the bypass) that Dunne, ACT and the Nat MPs are prepared to piss into Transmission Gully vs the coastal route – Wellington could have had a 4-lane cut and cover tunnel between the Terrace Tunnel and Basin Reserve leading up to a second Mt Victoria Tunnel (each one operating as one way two lanes each way). It would have removed around 30-40% of the traffic from Te Aro, cut around 25% of the traffic from the waterfront route along the quays and meant a 2-3 minute trip across town instead of a 7-10 minute one.
So there you have it. I will blog about this later (as I am at Auckland airport) – but I think it is a travesty that Transmission Gully will be built and the motorway ends at Vivian Street. That is what happens with politics deciding road priorities.
It wasn’t hardly like that until comparatively recently.
Vote:March 4th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Ive been away for three months over summer. I come back to Varsity and when in the past i could leave my flat in brooklyn and be at uni in 5-10 minutes it now takes me half an hour. The bypass is a joke, any system that creates peak hour traffic at 3.00pm-8.00pm can only be regarded as a failure. The only people that the bypass serves is the cab drivers as we the public spend three times as long in the cab and this costs three times as much.
Vote:March 4th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Ive been away for three months over summer. I come back to Varsity and when in the past i could leave my flat in brooklyn and be at uni in 5-10 minutes it now takes me half an hour. The bypass is a joke, any system that creates peak hour traffic at 3.00pm-8.00pm can only be regarded as a failure. The only people that the bypass serves is the cab drivers as we the public spend three times as long in the cab and this costs three times as much.
Vote:March 4th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Ive been away for three months over summer. I come back to Varsity and when in the past i could leave my flat in brooklyn and be at uni in 5-10 minutes it now takes me half an hour. The bypass is a joke, any system that creates peak hour traffic at 3.00pm-8.00pm can only be regarded as a failure. The only people that the bypass serves is the cab drivers as we the public spend three times as long in the cab and this costs three times as much.
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