Sigh Of Relief On TG Announcement

You will hear a collective sigh of relief across the Wellington region and from all New Zealand’s truck drivers at the news today that Transmission Gully (TG) will finally open before the end of this month, says Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett.

"Most people will forget the saga around the three year delay and half a billion dollar budget blow out, but it will be important to understand exactly what the cause of this was, over the next few months, so the appropriate lessons can be learnt," Leggett says.

"Transmission Gully is a win for productivity, safety, resilience and improving the ease of access to and from Wellington. Today’s announcement has been anticipated many times, so it is great that it is finally here and we will see this road open and in use.

"More major highways like this should be built across New Zealand to ensure we tap our potential economic growth, and the job isn’t finished in Wellington either. Congestion will still be felt in the mornings south of TG at Tawa unless there is big investment in public transport and a decision to build the Petone to Grenada link.

"The road transport industry is delighted that the road will finally open. We will continue to promote the building of new roads to move goods around New Zealand in a safe and timely fashion, and will be watching the operation of Transmission Gully closely to ensure the standard of pavement works don’t degrade and that the road meets the standards the public has been assured of," Leggett says.

About Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand

Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand (Transporting New Zealand) provides unified national representation for the trucking industry, that is, about 1,200 individual road freight transport companies, which operate about 14,000 heavy trucks delivering for New Zealand.

The road freight transport industry employs 32,868 people (2.0% of the workforce), has a gross annual turnover of $6 billion, and transports 93% of the total tonnes of freight moved in New Zealand.

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