Residents fear Transmission Gully link road closure will add to commute

Local residents fear the closure of a link road between Wellington's Transmission Gully and Porirua will only add to their commute.

Porirua City Council, Wellington Electricity, Wellington Water and Kāinga Ora would begin carrying out "critical infrastructure" service upgrades on the Waitangirua Link Road and the adjoining Whitby link road, Te Ara Kāpehu from 4 November.

The link roads connected the suburbs of Waitangirua and Whitby with State Highway 1.

The council said the road would be closed for up to five months, while work was done to improve electricity network resilience and increase drinking water services for the fast-growing eastern suburbs.

Porirua resident Kirsten Lang was unhappy the council had not got the infrastructure installed before the road was open and felt it lacked foresight.

She used the road to take her daughter to swimming lessons in Cannons Creek, and estimated the link road approximately halved her journey time.

Lang said not being able to use the link road would add a "considerable extra distance" to her journey.

However she did prefer the council closing the road if the other option were to have been a prolonged period of stop/go traffic management.

AJ Marama lives in Porirua but works in Kapiti, and used the link road for his daily commute.

Taking State Highway 59 (previously State Highway 1) would add an extra 10-15 minutes to his journey time, and using another on-ramp to get onto Transmission Gully would take even longer, he said.

Marama said he was also concerned the works would take longer than the estimated five months, with sewer-main construction and water-main renewal works in nearby Champion Street having taken much longer than initially advised.

Porirua City Council mayor Anita Baker said it was not possible for it to make infrastructure upgrades to the link road any sooner.

The work would be done as quickly as possible, but in the meantime, she asked road users to be patient.

The council had scheduled a chunk of the works to happen over the December/January period when people were away and the roads were quieter, she said.

RNZ also spoke to a number of businesses near the end of the Waitangirua Link Road. Most were unconcerned by the closure and would travel through Porirua.

rnz.co.nz

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