It has a benefit/cost ratio of around 0.5/1 so the project destroys wealth. David’s comments that he supported projects with a positive BCR being funded is now hollow, as even National has abandoned economic efficiency as a basis for deciding road priorities.

Hear, hear! A better return on investment could be achieved if you stack $2bn into two piles, and thrust a blowtorch on the pile on the left.

And just what is the contingency plan if petrol goes north of $2.30 again? We carry on with $11bn of road building because we will just get rid of the 2m registered fossil fuel powered vehicles and replace them with electric trucks and cars – which will be cheap, affordable and available in large quantities at your local electric vehicle dealer. Yeah right!

If they are counting on the NZLTF to fund the PPP partner they may be disappointed.A fuel tax set up for $70/barrel oil is unlikely to keep collecting as much when we are looking at higher fuel costs.

There are 10746723 other things the Government could burn $1bil on.

Just build the bloody thing.

SH1 both North and South out of Dork Land has had massive upgrades in the last 5 years. I work in Wellington, why should my taxes contribute to those?

If you want to scream you have a problem with roading projects far from your home, feel free to send me a cheque covering the portion of your new roads that I paid for.

If ever there was a case of abuse of power this is it.

Any roading money should be spent in Auckland – (or ‘Civilisation’ as I call it) – a place which earns money for NZ, a place where people actually live, a place which contributes rather than ‘takes’.

http://www.nightcitytrader.blogspot.com

It has a benefit/cost ratio of around 0.5/1 so the project destroys wealth. David’s comments that he supported projects with a positive BCR being funded is now hollow, as even National has abandoned economic efficiency as a basis for deciding road priorities.

Transmission Gully is a third more expensive than the alternative, unless you gold plate the alternative to placate extreme environmentalist views about the coast (which is reclaimed anyway) or Mana (which hasn’t got congestion anymore).

It would not have been “cheaper” two decades ago, the business case then would have been even worse with far far less traffic. For roughly 5% of the cost, congestion has been mostly relieved and the bad accident rate has been largely forgone, saving millions of interest costs in not building it decades ago.

A phenomenal waste of money. $1.2 billion to prop up the property values of a few thousand people in Paremata/Mana, Plimmerton, Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki, and promote Kapiti as a commuter suburb for Wellington.

All that was needed was a bypass at Pukerua Bay, underpass at Paekakariki, and eventual four laning along the coast. None of which is a priority.

What this proves is how appallingly wasteful politically driven road funding can be. Labour was willing to pour money down the drain to protect Mt Albert, National now does so to protect another area. The Greens will oppose it for the wrong reasons, but we are back to Think Big. For shame!

Not to mention the devastating that Transmission Gulley will have on the surrounding environment. The lost to Natrual bush land, increased noise in the isolated communties that the road will effect and increased air pollution. The project will only shave off about 15-20 min of travel time, I don’t see this as a benefit at all, and given the price tag as well, what is the point. The motorway will only make growth through the region worse, creating a population that is heaviliy dependant on their private cars.

The government hasn’t even considered doing any dramatic improvements to public transport like a high speed railway line for that price with a much higher benefit ratio as well. What is the point in increasing urban sprawl further away from Wellington, even the mayor of the Kapiti Coast is agaisnt this. We have a chance to stop this from happening and now is the time?

Too many people above say it is bad because it encourages more people to drive to work.
That is simply wrong. Finding a carpark in wellington is hard – thats what deters people from driving to work. Not the congestion on the road since the train takes around the same time or what time saved isnt really worth the effort of using the train.

What makes the transmission gully road good, is that it gets more people travelling further, in a higher gear, in a shorter time. Rather than travel a congested 5 kilometres of the total journey to work in second gear going 20km an hour, it is more efficent to go the same distance in 5th gear at 90km an hour.

IDLE CARS POLLUTE – BETTER TO HAVE THEM MOVING!

My other point i would like to make is in the 20 to 30 years when everyone is driving a hybrid or electric car, this will be when the lower congestion can be truly realised.

Perhaps in the future systems such as this [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_rapid_transit] may be the answer but that will require a reasonable infrastructure investment. Once Hydrogen/Electric options become more available we may find that roads with private vehicles are the best option to transport large numbers of people, especially if the major roads are controlled by an automated highway system (such as the PATH project) to ensure maximum throughput.
One can dream I suppose.

Like you I could not see the strategic value an airport at Kapiti would have for the yanks other than making it easier for them to ferry in supplies for the base they had on the Kapiti coast.

Perhaps they wanted to build the road for no other reason that it might stop their young men driving into Wellington and shagging the arse of all the local chicks…..or make the trip into town to do same a lot faster….lol

…My understanding is that part of the master plan was a bigger airport at Kapiti that monster bombers could land on and a major road to Wellington as a supply line between American planes and American war ships tied up in Wellington harbour…

Burt, the urban myth about what the Murricans were going to do for Wellington during the war is harder to eradicate than gorse.

Why would the Americans want a Wellington airport for “monster bombers” during or after World War 2? A key strategy of the Pacific campaign of the Americans in World War 2 was to capture bases or potential bases for B-29s ever closer to Japan, so the bombing campaign could be intensified. That’s what the blood-soaked island invasions were about.

It’s hard to see a place for NZ air bases in the World War 2 strategic bombing or in the following Cold War strategic-bomber containment.

“The narrower the road the cheaper it is to build”

I accept that, but for once in our life’s I would love to see a government that actually thought about the future for once, if you design it to suit the needs of today they we will be having this bloody argument again in 25 years.

Build the fucking thing as big as we possibly can, it should be a minimum of six lanes, our grandkids will thank us for it.

BUT If you say “backwards ignorant c**t.”
Cunningly, reversely substituting the (non-existant u for the* and the non-existant n for the other*).
Somewhat resembling a Scandinavian name. You are OK in the eyes of David. Which of course is all that matters here.
Hooray for Newspeak!!

Over the years I attributed my good health to my job which required a minimal mixing with others who might have infections and riding my scooter to work instead of associating with all and sundry on public transport … usually crowded at normal going and coming to and from worktimes. It was also a lot lot cheaper than other modes of transport.

The AGW high priests must be pissed, they almost got there – the holy grail – world political domination.

Still who knows, the theory might be right – not likely or the people who developed it would have welcomed extensive and robust peer review. The next year or so will be their chance to open the models up to extensive review or watch their theory fall into the junk science dust bin like thousands before it motivated by politics.

More money would not make it safer, less likely to he an incubator for germs, more reliable, more convenient, or less of a pain in the arse.

The sea is not going to rise because of our actions, the sooner you stop pushing this lie the better, and please, stop the pathetic attempt to ‘guilt’ anybody who does not agree with you into accepting the con that is climate change.

Provide the proof and I will agree with you, tell me how wealth transfer is going to change things and I will agree with you, until then please stop telling such blatant lies.

Here most people don’t like to use public transport and don’t want to. To get it convenient enough and desirable enough is a lost cause, financially and psychologically.