Highway Development
The Wellington Northern Corridor is a $2.4 billion roading project connecting Wellington Airport to Levin. Crown transport agency NZTA says it will be substantially completed within 10 years.
It’s split into eight projects with three in the Kapiti Horowhenua region: the Mackays Crossing to Peka Peka 17.8 km section ($380m to $500m); the Peka Peka to North Otaki 12km section ($215 to $355m); and the Otaki to Levin section.
The estimated 110 km project is defined as a “lead infrastructure project” meaning it’s designed to enable economic growth rather that responding to growth in Wellington -New Zealand’s third largest economic centre.
The region’s population is projected to increase by 65,000 within 20 years with the greatest growth in Wellington and Kapiti. Regional freight, mostly via trucks, is expected to increase by 50 percent by 2017.
The Northern Corridor project aims to reduce congestion, increase reliability and provide quicker links to the region’s economic hubs and key destinations like airports, hospitals, CBDs and the inter-island ferry.
The whole Corridor project is calculated to reduce peak travel time between Kapiti and Lower Hutt by 15 minutes and cut 10 minutes off peak time travel between Kapiti and Wellington. Speedy access to health and emergency services will improve.
NZTA says other benefits include vehicle operating costs and knock-on agglomeration effects where productivity is increased from the clustering of economic activities. For Kapiti Coast the future hubs are at Paraparaumu Airport and the Clean Tech Centre at Otaki. It will also better connect the regional centres of Horowhenua, Palmerston North and Manawatu.
The Agency has promised to work with local authorities including KCDC to ensure the expressway is integrated into the local transport networks. Initial design options on interchanges, access to the expressway, access to local roads, and the actual routes for the Kapiti Coast sections of the expressway are currently being developed.
NZTA aims to progress the Peka Peka to Otaki section followed by the Mackays to Peka Peka sections in phase one before phase two or Transmission Gully is completed. The Otaki to Levin is phase three.