Plan to end the holiday crawl

Road projects, such as the Kopu bridge replacement, may be fast tracked with regional help. Picture / Derek Flynn

Key improvements to highways used heavily by holidaying Aucklanders will be fast-tracked by extra Government cash if matched by contributions from communities along the way.

Accelerated projects would include a replacement Kopu bridge to uncork a notorious bottleneck to and from the Coromandel Peninsula, and added improvements to State Highway 2 through Maramarua - labelled the "unforgiving highway" after numerous fatal accidents..

Transit New Zealand chief executive Rick van Barneveld told a gathering in Hamilton yesterday that regional contributions would be necessary for any increase to a $1.9 billion pot of Government money pledged for Waikato highways over the next 10 years.

"It will only be on the cards if complemented by most probably some form of debt-funding," he said.

Tolling motorists was one way of repaying loans, but Mr van Barneveld admitted this "might not be popular". Other revenue sources might be necessary, such as developers' levies or property rates.

He nominated bypasses of Ngaruawahia on State Highway 1 and of Maramarua on State Highway 2 as possible fast-track candidates, as well as a new Kopu bridge to replace the rickety single-lane structure where holiday traffic can queue for up to two hours.

Without extra money, these are unlikely to be completed inside 10 years. Work is expected to start this summer on the $46 million Mangatawhiri link, and in 2009 on the Te Rapa bypass, which will cost up to $170 million to build from just south of Horotiu to Avalon Drive in Hamilton.

Almost half that amount will be for land purchases along the 6km route, which will eventually be joined to a new bridge to be built across the Waikato River as part of a 15km eastern bypass of Ngaruawahia costing $160 million.

Mr van Barneveld acknowledged that Waikato's $131 million highway construction budget for this financial year was somewhat less than its fair share according to vehicle kilometres travelled.

But he said a $900 million capital commitment over 10 years would even the score.

The rest of the $1.9 billion would be to maintain the region's more than 2000km of state highways.

Coromandel MP Sandra Goudie, whose National Party went to voters with a promise to complete the $750 million Waikato Expressway from Mercer to Cambridge within 10 years, questioned the amount of extra Government money going to Auckland.

But the Transit chief said Waikato's allocation was not counting added funds it stood to gain after a joint group of local and central Government officials makes recommendations to ministers in December on ways to speed up important projects.

He said the aim of the exercise was to focus the region on which projects its leaders believed were most needed.

"It needs to come one way or the other from this [regional] economy, which will benefit from it."

Similar exercises have already led to commitments of $900 million of Crown funding over 10 years to Auckland, $885 million to Wellington and $150 million to the Bay of Plenty, in addition to regional shares of the latest 5c-a-litre rise in petrol tax.

But Mr van Barneveld said the Bay of Plenty had agreed to meet half the $244 million cost of a duplicate Tauranga bridge through tolls, also needed to plug an $800 million funding gap for new Auckland roads including the crucial western ring route.

Environment Waikato chairwoman Jenni Vernon said she did not begrudge Auckland the large sums needed for projects to clear congestion, which had flow-on effects in her region and the Bay of Plenty.

"We are in it together as part of the same growth triangle," she said.

Asked how Waikato residents would feel about paying for roads used heavily by Aucklanders, such as State Highway 2, she said: "We use Auckland's roads as well."

MAJOR WORKS

Kopu bridge replacement

* $41 million to end maddening traffic jams for holidaymakers heading to or from the Coromandel Peninsula. Construction start on Transit's current 10-year forecast: 2011.

Maramarua deviation

* $66 million to bypass notorious 4km stretch of State Highway 2 which claimed the lives last year of historian Michael King and his wife, Maria Jungowska. Construction start: 2011.

Ngaruawahia bypass

* $160 million direct link from Taupiri to south of Horotiu, cutting about 3km off existing 15km route and including new bridge over Waikato River. Construction start: 2014.