Build Our Road: Horowhenua Expressway campaign gets under way

Alyana du Fresne (16), Hannah du Fresne (16), Emma Clarke, Geoff Lewis, Anthony Young are among a growing group of residents and business owners who want the four-lane expressway built.

A growing group of local businesspeople are stepping up to lobby Government about the need for an expressway past Levin. A Build Our Road lobby group is forming involving Horowhenua growers as well as the Horowhenua New Zealand Trust and they are looking for more individuals and businesses to join them in their efforts to "Build Our Road".

Increase in population and growth in agricultural industries compounds the need for the Ōtaki to North of Levin Expressway, say Horowhenua farmers Geoff Lewis and Emma Clarke.

"It is a good thing to lobby for what you believe in," says Lewis, an asparagus and strawberry grower, who has a farm at Poroutawhao, north of Levin.

"We used to see queues on a Friday and Sunday only as traffic went to Wellington - now it's everyday. The increase in traffic isn't helped by the growth of multi-site horticulture.

"If you travel south from Levin there are usually two or three tractors, creating congestion and frustration for those in cars following."

Lewis says big trucks, which at the moment can't go on the old Whirokino Bridge and go on State Highway 57 through Shannon, will go through Levin when the new Whirokino Bridge is finished.

He says it is important for communities who are familiar with local risks and hazards to let the government know about them.

"Levin is a major pressure point and with the expressway as well as Transmission Gully, it is set to become more of a bottleneck. State Highway 1 goes through the main street of Levin and there are two sets of lights which slows through-traffic."

Emma Clarke, director of commercial growing operation Woodhaven Gardens, says that since the median barriers on the existing road were installed, the congestion has become significantly worse.

"Our boys in their tractors now have no room to manoeuvre and have to hold their line, which creates a really unsafe environment with frustrated motorists taking unnecessary risks to pass our vehicles.

Ōtaki MP Nathan Guy recently led a march through Levin protesting the lack of certainty on the expressway.

Lewis and Clarke said they had tried to communicate with NZTA through the usual channels and had no luck.

"It's our responsibility to lobby and make the government aware of what's going on here - otherwise they don't know, and only have statistics to go on.

"We've got to be real about this. This road is important for locals, but it's a main artery for the North Island and as it stands - it's not good enough."

For more information about the campaign to lobby NZTA to build the Ōtaki to North of Levin Expressway, visit facebook.com/buildourroad.

NZTA has said that once funding was approved it would work toward designating the road within about two or three years.

In February, Horowhenua District Council said NZTA had said the agency would be working towards finishing a business case for the project by December 2019 that would include "refinement of the final alignment" within the corridor, confirmation of interchange locations and required staging if any.

A decision would then be made towards the end of this year on the consent process, which would likely be via Notice of Requirement. The council understood this would then be likely to begin in mid-2020 with a 12-month timeframe.

Last month about 150 people turned out at Levin's Village Green to take part in a march protesting what many call NZTA's inaction on issues surrounding the expressway.

A lot of traffic passes through Levin every day and this includes a lot of really big trucks. An expressway would send these trucks and most through traffic around the town rather than right through.

*The Horowhenua New Zealand Trust is a community-owned, not-for-profit organisation. It says its mission is to improve the wellbeing of the people of Horowhenua. The Trust is supporting the community movement to Build Our Road by helping people who have been affected by the delay from NZTA to tell their stories.