News today that Transmission Gully will open September 2021, over a year and half later than it was initially scheduled, is better late than never, says the Porirua Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s been two months plus, of silence from NZTA/Waka Kotahi,” says Hamish Mexted, chair of the Porirua Chamber of Commerce.

“We are pleased there is now an outcome from the parties, and that this settlement agreement closes out all contract claims and issues up to the date of the settlement. It’s time to draw a line and get moving.

“The silver lining is that the Kenepuru Roundabout will now be completed in time for the new opening date, although we’re still waiting to hear about the rethink of the methodology and timeframe for this and the Link Road. The previous design had Chamber members concerned that a backlog of traffic was going to isolate the Kenepuru area. Traffic modelling showed the link road would actually make it near impossible at peak times to get to one of Porirua’s main commercial areas – the very last thing we would want.

“While this substantial delay to open Transmission Gully is disappointing, this road has been well over a century in the planning. We just hope that the other major regional transport programme Let’s Get Wellington Moving, which is currently at over half a century in the making, isn’t subjected to similar extended timeline derailments.

“Unquestionably some of the delay comes from COVID, however, the length of this extension, coupled with the previous extensions, seems disproportionate. How a four month lockdown leads to a nine month-plus delay still remains unclear. We are also concerned about the NZTA comments pre-empting future delays, as we simply cannot have any more.

“We look forward to the increased transparency of the project moving forward with additional reporting of the monthly information.”

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