Early morning traffic on SH1 in and out of Levin at Buller Rd.
Early morning traffic on SH1 in and out of Levin at Buller Rd.
A Horowhenua man says he is risking his life every day when driving to work because of the dire state of the highway between Ōtaki and Levin.
Dan Turner, who lives on Buller Rd, south of Levin, and works in Ōtaki, is supporting the "Build Our Road" campaign out of sheerfrustration with the problematic state highway, according to a media release from the Horowhenua New Zealand Trust.
The campaign, which the Trust launched in July, is working to engage Government and the New Zealand Transport Agency to designate funding to build the proposed expressway from Ōtaki to north of Levin.
"The NZTA has announced a preferred corridor for the road, but there is no funding allocated to it and no start date for the project," it said.
Turner says the number of intersections and private accesses on to the state highway is causing drivers stress and forcing them to take risks to get across the busy road.
"A good example of this is me trying to get out of Buller Rd in the morning to go south. This can take a long time."
Tractor arriving the Buller Rd intersection with SH1 south of Levin.
This is just the first in a long list of issues with the road, according to Dan, who has been
commuting to work on the highway for four years, previously to Wellington and Palmerston North.
Tractors travelling at 30km per hour clog up the roads at peak travel times, he says.
"This adds a lot of delay and frustration as there are few places to pass with median barriers in the middle of the road.
"The bridges are too narrow and not designed appropriately for the speed of the road. These are dangerous and I'm surprised there are not more crashes.
"There is very little resilience in the road. If there is an accident on one of the bridges there can be very long detours to continue north or south. This is our main highway and a crash can cripple it."
Tractor squeezing on to SH1 at Buller Road on Friday after noon.
One commuter, who did not want to be named, says there's some obvious pressure points on the road and it's well past its replacement date.
"It's frankly a little scary.
"The passing lane immediately north of Ōtaki is a horrible mess of a challenging, high speed section where drivers' speeds reach excesses of slow and fast. The road curves - limiting visibility, and it is particularly slippery in the wet with little room for error. I've seen many close calls here, and come across several high speed crashes. You always shudder to think what could've just happened to the people in those cars."
Turner says the way the Government has handled the project has been "terrible".
"They have released the preferred corridor and then stopped dead. There are people within that corridor or near it that are in limbo. They don't know whether they should sell or stay... [the Government] needs to back it up with some action and get it done so people have certainty of the future and can move on."
The new highway would slash travel times, save lives, build communities and have the potential to transform the Levin town centre, Turner told the Horowhenua New Zealand Trust.
"It will grow the region as people are moving out of Wellington to purchase cheaper properties up the coast."
For more information about the campaign to build the Ōtaki to North of Levin Expressway, visit facebook.com/buildourroad.
