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https://theconversation.com/spinning-its-wheels-the-new-national-transport-plan-steers-nz-back-to-a-car-dependent-past-238066>
"The government’s new National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) could easily
have been renamed the “highway funding project”, given its intense focus on
road building.
Released yesterday, the plan outlines funding priorities for the next three
years. If it comes to fruition, much of the spending will be driven into major
highway schemes, and steered away from sustainable transport alternatives for
the main cities.
The programme allocates NZ$7 billion for state highway improvements between now
and 2027, most of which goes to the newest iteration of the so-called Roads of
National Significance (RoNS). On top of this massive highway bill, the
programme gives another $1 billion in contingency funding to accelerated
planning of the RoNS.
But the total $8 billion price tag doesn’t actually buy new highways. The roads
are several years, if not decades, away from becoming a reality. Instead, these
funds will be dedicated to extensive planning, design and preparatory work,
rather than actual construction.
For many of those road projects, the current NLTP period focuses on route
protection, environmental assessments, property acquisition and preliminary
designs.
The State Highway 1 Warkworth-to-Wellsford project, for instance, will only
begin construction late in this NLTP period. Others, like the East-West Link
and State Highway 29 Tauriko West projects, are still in the development and
route protection stages.
Even more telling, projects such as the State Highway 16 North-West alternative
highway won’t see any construction during this NLTP period. Nor will the State
Highway 6 Hope Bypass in Nelson, which won’t break ground until 2029."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
