Decent
gorge alternative needed
Hawke’s
Bay depends on trade, be it overseas exports, supplying the needs of
our domestic markets, bringing in raw materials or attracting
visitors. All have a significant transport component and the
efficiency of our transport network determines whether we are
competitive or not. In other words if we want to prosper we must have
the most efficient and most appropriate transport links.
Some
months ago a major slip closed the Manawatu George almost certainly
forever. This is not the first time the gorge road has been closed.
In
2011 a large slip closed the Gorge for 14 months and
cost
$15.8 million to repair whilst
in 2015 two slips cost
more
than $800,000 to
clear.
The
closure imposes a significant cost on the Hawke’s Bay economy but
this issue seems to have slipped below the radar. To her credit the
Tararua District Council Mayor Tracy Collis has been pretty vocal,
understandable of course because the towns of Woodville and
Dannevirke have been hit particularly hard.
There
are two local alternatives to the Manawatu gorge, the Saddle Road and
the Pahiatua Track. Neither however offers the convenience of the now
closed gorge route. Whilst $8.5 million has been budgeted for
improvements to the saddle road the fact is larger vehicles such as
trucks and buses now take an additional 25 minutes to climb then
descend these steep and somewhat difficult roads. For cars an extra
15 minutes is needed and whilst that might not seem a lot, when the
cost is aggregated for the thousands of vehicles affected the total
is in the many millions of dollars.
If
we look at the bigger picture it is clear we are very vulnerable.
Effectively we have just three highways connecting us to the rest of
the country, SH5 to Taupo, the SH2 Rimutaka hill road to Wellington
and the Manawatu Gorge. All can be and often are blocked and when
this happens we are effectively isolated. None are true alternatives
to the others though the gorge route offers the some versatility
especially for the crucial the SH5 Napier Taupo road. If the Mohaka
bridge is put out of commission the Manawatu offers the only
realistic alternative even though it is hundreds of Kilometers
further. A major earthquake could knock any one of these these routes
for a year or more as happened following the Kaikura quake a year
ago.
The
present Government has committed to significant spending on roads of
National Significance including
Waterview $1.4billion,
Transmission Gulley out
of Wellington $850 million
plus the joining 24Km
$630 million Kapiti Expressway
which opened last
February, the Puhoi
to Wellsford toll
road, $790
million additional for the Waikato
expressway and the
$455 million
Tauranga Eastern toll road.
It
has been announced during the election
campaign that the
Napier/Hastings expressway will be widened
to 4 lanes which
will improve local connectivity and
additionally the
Manawatu connection has
been identified as very
important but
there seems to be
no specific plan or budget for the gorge
option.
Nor is it clear
if the other
political parties
are committed should there be a change of
Government.
In
reality continuing
improvements to the Saddle Road and Pahiatua
track can only be short term solutions.
These will always be steep, winding and time consuming and the
only acceptable alternative must surely be
a level roadway be it a tunnel or bridge.
It
can be done. In 1999 the $25 million half
kilometre Otira Gorge Viaduct opened by-passing
a similarly
unstable slip prone cliff face.
This what we need and nothing else is acceptable.
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