Wellington should take the second Mt Victoria tunnel and run - A Capital Letter

Wellington's Mt Victoria Tunnel. Photo / Mark Mitchell

OPINION

Wellington has been more of a loser than a winner in 2023 and if the city has learnt anything from this experience, it’s that it should take the new Government’s money for a second Mt Victoria tunnel and run.

The $7.4 billion Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) transport plan has finally been put out of its misery as this column foreshadowed in August.

Light rail or some form of mass rapid transit is now off the table, Wellington City Council will bring a plan to remove cars from the Golden Mile in-house, work on key bus corridors will be accelerated, and the Government will build a second Mt Victoria tunnel and make improvements at the Basin Reserve as a fully funded State Highway project.

Whether you agreed with LGWM or not, it was still a huge amount of much-needed investment from the Government in Wellington. The Crown was down to pay 60 per cent of the total cost.

But that money has dried up over the years the city has spent dithering over seemingly endless public consultation and legal challenges like judicial review action over one pedestrian crossing.

On the campaign trail, the National Party estimated the cost for a second tunnel and Basin Reserve improvements would be $2.2b.

Those on the left side of the political spectrum, including Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau, are disappointed light rail isn’t going ahead. Whanau’s flagship campaign promise of a major urban revitalisation project between the waterfront and the hospital was tied to mass rapid transit.

Whanau has said she does not support a “car tunnel” but has acknowledged it’s a priority for the Government, which has committed to funding 100 per cent of the cost.

It could be argued National doesn’t exactly have a mandate for its local transport policies in Wellington considering the two electorates which the tunnel connects, Rongotai and Wellington Central, are now held by Green MPs Julie Anne Genter and Tamatha Paul.

Rongotai MP Julie Anne Genter says her first priority is to make sure the Government’s commitment to improve public transport takes priority over the Basin works and tunnel. Photo / Marty Melville

They have said there are remnants in the LGWM scrapheap to build from and consider their job as Wellingtonians is to organise and “push the Government into making the right decisions for the future of the city” that they love.

Unsurprisingly they are not keen on another tunnel and of course, the Greens will continually push for the light rail they have long lobbied for.

However, it’s important to remember this is not a question of light rail or a tunnel. It’s a question of the tunnel or nothing under this Government.

The second tunnel was always part of the LGWM plan and for the sake of finally getting something built in Wellington, advocating for greener transport solutions should not come at the expense of the tunnel. Wellington needs both.

Shelly Bay and Cook Strait mega ferries among Wellington’s mounting losses

The death of LGWM is one of three huge losses for the city this year.

A 350-home development at Shelly Bay was stopped dead in its tracks when famous filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson and his partner Dame Fran Walsh purchased the prime real estate land.

The housing plan had been hampered by a divided iwi, legal battles, and city council showdowns until it all became too hard for developer Ian Cassels.

Just last week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced the Government had declined KiwiRail’s request for an extra $1.47 billion to plug the cost blowout of its mega ferry project.

The overall cost to replace Interislander’s ageing fleet of three ferries had ballooned to $3b due to portside infrastructure designed to have a one-in-100-year resilience lifetime in Wellington and Picton.

KiwiRail has been forced to go back to the drawing board to secure the critical transport connection between the North and South islands.

The one consequential win Wellington has had this year is the opening of the city’s new exhibition and convention centre Tākina which injected about $24 million of spending into the city’s economy in its first six months - more than four times more than what was initially forecast.

It was criticised as a white elephant during construction but has proven to be a success after hosting 70 events, 38 of which were multi-day conferences with an average attendance of 442 delegates.

It did not escape A Capital Letter’s attention that the city’s waterfront Wellington sign has a new look - it’s covered in comic book illustrations from the Marvel universe as a nod to the exhibition on show at Tākina.

Although the sign has undoubtedly been a success as a destination photo opportunity, it still looks like a giant spelling mistake and is an unimpressive addition to a city in need of a rethink.

Sadly, although admittedly to its credit, it feels like one of the only things in Wellington that actually changes.

The Wellington sign on the city's waterfront has been covered in Marvel comic illustrations as a nod to the Marvel: Earth's Mightiest Exhibition showing at Tākina. Photo / WellingtonNZ

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.