By Justin Wong, Local Democracy Reporting
As it stands, the proposed motorway between Petone to Grenada would cut across two local reserves, including the Gilberd Bush Reserve. Photo: LDR / SUPPLIED
Anne Megget was not pleased when she saw the map of the proposed motorway between Petone to Grenada (P2G) in Wellington's northern suburbs for the first time.
A thick blue line slapped on a map in the road's investment case released last October by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) denoted officials' preferred route for the 5.5km four-lane highway - starting at an intersection with the Cross Valley Link on Hutt Rd, through Horokiwi, a 410-metre tunnel under Woodridge, another 230m tunnel under Mark Ave and ending at Grenada Drive.
As it stands, P2G would cut across two local reserves, the Gilberd Bush Reserve and Seton Nossiter Park. There would also be an intersection with the Lincolnshire Farms where 2500 new houses would be built over the next 30 years.
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"I'm very concerned about the effect on Seton Nossiter Park," said Megget, a Grenada Village resident and a member of a local conservation group that removes cherry trees and seedlings at the park.
Had there been public input into the route, she would have argued for the road to run through Lincolnshire Farms instead of the two reserves. "I think it should go through farmland, not native bush, and certainly not through people's homes."
Megget was one of several residents who spoke to Local Democracy Reporting about the recently minted Road of National Significance, concerned about the minimal details of the road, the proposed route's unclear environmental and noise impacts and what they say was inadequate consultation.
Official Information Act (OIA) requests show NZTA officials considered three other potential P2G routes, including an option dating to 2015 and two more, that would have run through Lincolnshire Farms. They settled on the proposed route because it was less steep, avoided affecting the development, could shave off the most driving time between Porirua and Lower Hutt.
A NZTA spokesperson said P2G was in a "route protection" phase but did not answer if it would allow the public to have a say on the route's design during the phase.
"This involves securing land and properties along the proposed route as well as securing consenting for the project. This involves engaging with directly affected landowners and property owners as per the requirements of the Fast-track Approvals Act."
The agency was running ground and environmental investigations in suburbs like Grenada, Newlands and Woodridge, as well as Horokiwi and Petone, to understand soil, land, and environmental conditions along the preferred route. There would be information sessions this year to "share updates" and answer questions.
"This information is essential for progressing planning and design work, and ensures the final road alignment is based on accurate data," it said in a December update.
Wellington's deputy mayor and Takapū/Northern Ward councillor Ben McNulty said compared to the proposed second Mt Victoria tunnel in central Wellington, there had been scant information from NZTA on P2G and it created a "giant level of uncertainty".
"That has got people fearing for the worst," he said. "I'm keen to see a P2G link built but there is just such ambiguity about the environmental toll that this would have.
"The longer that ambiguity is left for, the more frustration that residents are feeling."
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
