The road freight industry joins other key economic sectors in wanting to keep the country moving, and can’t see any justification for the Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) proposal for a pedestrian crossing on the State Highway 1 route to and from Wellington airport.

“Stopping traffic on such a vital route to make life easier for a handful of people who might want to cross this road where they don’t need to is a ludicrous idea,” says Transporting New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett. 

“This will significantly disadvantage the 35,000 vehicles, commuters, travellers and businesses that use this road every day”

“Cobham Drive is our main state highway and the only viable route to Wellington’s airport. We don’t want to see time added to that journey without strong evidence, which is currently missing in action.” 

The proposal for the crossing – to access the ASB Sports Centre – has met with strong opposition from business and community groups. An independent poll of residents in Wellington’s eastern suburbs shows they overwhelmingly oppose the pedestrian crossing, with 83% believing the proposed crossing will make congestion worse.

“We have seen no cost-benefit analyses to underpin this crossing and it’s about time Let’s Get Wellington Moving started listening, because this will not only affect businesses, it will also affect thousands of local residents,” says Leggett. 

“A controlled pedestrian crossing on an already-congested road will result in traffic being slowed to a stop when the lights are red, and to a crawl to get over the raised crossing.”

LGWM is a joint initiative between Wellington City Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council and Waka Kotahi to develop a better transport system for the capital. It has so far been an unmitigated failure, according to Leggett.  

“I’ve said before, Let’s Get Wellington Moving is a misnomer and to get things moving, we’ve got to stop slowing things down.”

Traffic congestion in Wellington and Auckland is growing day by day, yet local and central government seem hellbent on slowing traffic through cities and pandering to minority fringe interests, says Leggett. 

“Transporting New Zealand believes all road users need to operate in an environment where road safety, the impacts of transport on our environment and the transport of goods by road can co-exist.

“What is concerning is that LGWM talk but they don’t listen. They can’t produce sufficient evidence to substantiate significant changes to the roading network that favour cyclists and pedestrians over motorists, and yet spend vast amounts of ratepayer and taxpayer dollars doing so,” says Leggett.

“This kind of thinking is becoming commonplace, with the Government’s ‘bridge to nowhere’ cycleway in Auckland also shown to be a costly folly.

“The whole country is struggling right now – the lockdown in August coming just as things appeared to be getting back to normal – and yet there are decisionmakers who think spending $785million on a vanity project like this is warranted.”

Leggett says solutions to the issues and opportunities that COVID-19 has thrown up lie in the knowledge and expertise held by NZ’s businesses, rather than its bureaucracy.

“COVID-19 has highlighted a critical need for better understanding by Government and its officials about how the global supply chain works and how that flows through to moving goods into, out of, and around NZ. 

“Our economy is driven by exports and imports – goods that need to get where they are going as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, given how far away we are from the rest of the world.

“This is a well-oiled, logistics-driven machine, and Government could learn a lot from the businesses involved. They only have to open the door and ask.”