Councillor Morrison is angry

Wellington.Scoop
Derogatory, offensive, pathetic, nasty, intimidatory, threatening, gutless and spineless.

Whoa! Councillor John Morrison is angry. And why? He’s telling the DomPost what he thinks of being sent a package pointing out that the costs of Wellington’s next big roading projects would be far greater than any economic benefits. Read more »

Integrated ticketing for public transport – Wellington dragging the chain

Report from AKT
When integrated ticketing was first seriously mooted for public transport, some people had a dream that they could use the one card around the country. Read more »

NZTA reveals Kapiti expressway route – “difficult time for property owners”

Report from AKT
Today was the day of reckoning for Kapiti residents anxious to know what alignment the government’s NZ Transport Agency has chosen for the MacKays to Peka Peka Expressway.

At the southern end, the Agency has chosen the alignment proposed in November. North of the Waikanae River, the western alignment (option one in November) has been confirmed. Interchanges at Kapiti Road and Te Moana road are also confirmed.

The western option north of the Waikanae River will affect 16 properties, compared to the eastern option which would have affected 29 properties. Read more »

How safe is the Mt Victoria tunnel?

Wellington.Scoop
The need for earthquake strengthening is one of two reasons being given for closing the Mount Victoria tunnel for maintenance work. Starting on Monday, the tunnel will be closed for five nights a week, and the work will continue for the rest of the year.

Since the Christchurch earthquakes, anyone driving through the eighty-year-old tunnel will have wondered about its strength if there was an emergency. But the announcements about the closure seem to be evasive because they fail to offer any information about this. Here’s what the NZ Transport Agency is saying: Read more »

“The need is long overdue…” but can the mayors get what they want?

Wellington.Scoop
Amongst all the details of new roads and ramps and car parks in the Regional Council’s new ten-year plan for transport from Ngauranga to Te Marua, there’s some encouraging enthusiasm about improving things for cycling and walking. Read more »

Ancestral lands and the $550m expressway



Click image to view larger version

Wellington.Scoop
Kapiti residents campaigning against the government’s plans for a expressway through their community have issued a chart detailing some strong arguments against the project. Read more »

Bikes on buses

by Daran Ponter and Paul Bruce
Do you remember the days when prams and bikes were attached to the front of the big red buses in Wellington?

While this early example of integrated transport was abandoned by many New Zealand cities in the 1970s and 80s, there has been a resurgence of interest over the last decade. Today, as part of their cities’ integrated transport planning, many US and European cities have modern fold-up bike racks attached to their buses. Read more »

Don’t look under the wharf

by Jim Mikoz
I can see a major problem that will not be obvious to those who have proposed the design for rebuilding the Overseas Passenger Terminal. Read more »

Steven’s little helpers

by Peter Brooks
Steven Joyce has the two Labour councillors, Leonie Gill and Paul Eagle, to thank for ensuring that the Wellington end of his State Highway One Road of National Significance bulldozes on. If Councillors Gill and Eagle had not sided with Kerry’s old team, the Mayor might have led the city into a more realistic and purposeful partnership with the NZ Transport Agency on the Ngauranga to airport corridor exercise.
Read more »

Nothing changes: council supports roading plans but pushes cycling and walking too

by Lindsay Shelton
Wellington.Scoop
The Wellington City Council’s big roading debate on Wednesday turned out to have been a bit of a fizzer. Nothing has changed. The Transport Agency continues to develop its secret plans. Wellington’s suburban communities still wait to learn what’s going to be forced on them. Battles are yet to be fought. Read more »

Will the council act in the best interests of the communities which it represents?

by Peter Brooks
The Wellington Civic Trust is not too concerned about the attitude taken by the NZ Transport Agency in the matter of the highway from Ngauranga to the airport. Central government always leans on its smaller and weaker partner in government. Read more »

The extraordinary meeting which didn’t have an agenda

Wellington.Scoop
Less than thirty hours before the start of Wednesday’s extraordinary meeting of the Wellington City Council – demanded in a rush by nine councillors – no agenda had been published on the council’s website and no reports had been provided to inform the debate about controversial roading plans. Read more »

The pro-roading gang of nine

Wellington.Scoop
Kerry Prendergast supported a flyover near the Basin Reserve. She lost the election. Celia Wade-Brown opposed the flyover. She won. Read more »

Who’s looking at us?

Wellington.Scoop
“The eyes of the world will be on us” during the Rugby World Cup, claims Mayor Celia Wade-Brown. She’s exaggerating of course. She must secretly realise that there’ll be a huge part of the world whose eyes will not be looking at Wellington in September. Read more »

“My job’s moving to Auckland … and I don’t want to go there”

Wellington.Scoop
One of the more cheerful headlines this morning reports the decision of a Wellington economist to resign from his job because he doesn’t want to leave Wellington. Brendan O’Donovan, Westpac’s chief economist, is to quit his job at the bank on Friday when the rest of his team transfer to Auckland.
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