Christchurch Roads Getting National Funding

Three major Christchurch road projects were announced as part of the Government's 'roads of national significance' scheme, the Southern Motorway, the Northern Arterial and the Western Bypass. Of note, all three are hangovers from the 1960's era Christchurch Transportation Masterplan, of which a major part was to build an extensive motorway system for Christchurch (which obviously was never built!). The total cost of the projects is meant to be $650 million to $800 million and will be paid for out of the Government's increase in State Highway spending from $6.2 million to $10.7 million over the next ten years. Essentially what this means is that our local transport authorities will potentially save millions of dollars as these projects will now come under central government funding. Local authorities were going to put $176 million into the Southern Motorway alone which now means that money can be spent elsewhere. In addition the roads are to be given priority and may be further fast tracked through the consents process.

The Western bypass is perhaps the road I support the most. It's function is rather unique and would be hard to replicate by other transport modes. The plan is to four lane Russley and Johns Roads and build a flyover at the Memorial Road intersection. The flyover I am intrigued about as it could allow much improved traffic flow into the airport by separating north-south traffic from airport bound/origin traffic. However, what are we really getting? Until I see dedicated plans its hard to comment, but other intersections will cause problems and delays if they remain as roundabouts (even if the road is upgraded to four lanes). The other problem is at the north and south ends. At the north the bypass slots into Main North Road as a regular intersection and currently causes painful back-ups. What will happen here? At the south end the bypass flows straight into Hornby and a busy commercial and retail area, slotting into Main South Road at a busy and hazardous traffic light intersection. Continued population and traffic growth will eliminate any gains made on this road if it is not done properly and if steps aren't taken to reduce road use by investing in public transport.

The Northern Arterial is just a rehashing of the 1960's transport master plan albeit on a lighter scale. It could improve the dispersal of traffic from the north but will likely fail in reducing traffic congestion in the long term. The Waimakariri area is one of the fastest growing in New Zealand and is heavily dependent on the car. A large and ever increasing percentage of Waimakariri residents commute to Christchurch everyday so unless measures are also taken to get more commuters on to public transport the potential gains to be made by improving road access into Christchurch from the north will be nought and it will be money poorly spent.

The Southern Motorway has been on the drawing board for years and has been delayed time and time again as money has been diverted to North island projects. It basically involves widening the former Southern Motorway to four lanes (as it was always intended to have been) and extend it south around Wigram and towards Halswell Junction Road (which in turn will be upgraded). Ultimately the motorway will be further extended to just beyond Templeton (and State Highway One upgraded to four lanes from here to Rolleston), but many think this latter extension should be accelerated, an idea with which I agree. The benefits of this road are enormous as it will allow a better flow from the industrious south to the port at Lyttelton. However, once again it will be all for nothing unless other efforts are made to get less people dependent on these roads and allow them to do their job. The Selwyn District, like the Waimakariri, is one of the fastest growing in New Zealand and spending on improved public transport will be needed for this project to be feasible long-term. In addition a perfectly good double tracked railway runs from the south to Lyttelton, getting more freight moving this way would have obvious economic benefits.

All in all I believe this to be a good thing, but I must stress that developing these roads at the expense of public transport will not be beneficial and will not get these roads working the way they should. I hope the money saved by local authorities is put to good use and is largely spent on improving public transport (perhaps my wish list?). Unfortunately I believe most of it will probably be put to use improving local roads, particularly those that inter operate with these projects. However, it is early days yet and these roads might never get built such is the way of New Zealand. Remember that most transport infrastructure proposed for Christchurch in the 1960's never got built, Christchurch not only being a 'car city' but a poor one at that.