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The government has revealed the list of roading projects it wants to be given priority over the next decade.
The projects are the completion of the Auckland Western Ring Route, the highway upgrade between Puhoi and Wellsford and the Victoria Park bottleneck in Auckland.
Other road upgrades on the priority list are the Waikato Expressway, the Tauranga Eastern Corridor, the Northern Corridor out of Wellington and the Christchurch Motorway.
Transport Minister Steven Joyce says these are the seven most essential routes that require work to reduce congestion and support economic growth.
He says the government is advising the New Zealand Transport Agency that these are the most urgent projects to be considered.
And Joyce says a decision on whether Transmission Gully out of Wellington will go ahead will be made sometime this year.
Roads of National Significance from north to south:
- Puhoi to Wellsford - SH1
- Completion of the Auckland Western Ring Route -
SH20/16/18
- Auckland Victoria Park bottleneck - SH1
- Waikato Expressway - SH1
- Tauranga Eastern Corridor - SH2
- Wellington Northern Corridor (Levin to Wellington) -
SH1
- Christchurch motorway projects
"The purpose of listing roads as "nationally significant" is to allow the government to have input into the development of the land transport programme...from a nationwide perspective," Transport Minister Steven Joyce says.
Joyce says the roads are already very important in their regions and the government wants to signal their significance to the country as a whole.
"All seven are the most urgent projects within, or adjacent to, our five largest population centres," he says.
"The Auckland region holds two very important roading corridors - State Highway One through Auckland city, north to Wellsford and south through the Waikato (the Waikato Expressway) and the Auckland Western Wing Route. The Waikato Expressway is crucially important for linking Auckland to the Waikato and points further south.
"The Tauranga Eastern Corridor has been singled out as crucial to supporting growth in the Bay of Plenty - one of New Zealand's fastest growing regions, and providing freight access from across the region to Tauranga.
"Work on State Highway One between Wellington and Levin, the major route in and out of the capital will come as long-awaited relief for the lower North Island. This part of State Highway One links the centres of Palmerston North, Wanganui and Levin with our capital city.
"The Christchurch Motorway projects will improve the southern and northern approaches to our second largest metropolitan area, and provide a western bypass that links points north and south of Christchurch with the International Airport," says Joyce.
He says he has asked NZ Transport Agency to develop plans to
substantially advance these roads over the next 10 years.
Other State Highway projects will continue to be considered in the
normal way as part of the National Land Transport Programme.
