State Highway 1 consultation draws mixed bag of concerns

Concerns about the possibility that Puhoi will be denied access to the SH1 motorway extension to Wellsford have dominated submissions to the NZ Transport Agency.

The submission period was extended a week to August 2 in response to calls from the Puhoi community that the process was being rushed.

By July 29, NZTA had received 400 electronic and written pieces of feedback on its key principles and had taken close to 100 calls on the 0800 number.

State highways manager for Auckland Tommy Parker says a number of the feedback forms relate to the proposal of no-access point at Puhoi.

“Other feedback was around the location of an access point into Warkworth, the tie-in to south of Te Hana and the potential route for the alignment,” he said. “NZTA has also received some feedback about the justification for the project.”
Mr Parker said the reaction around the Puhoi interchange was not a surprise.

“NZTA undertook consultation early so we could receive community views on this and other issues early in the project development phase.”

On the question of why NZTA had not attended the July 21 public meeting in Puhoi which attracted about 250 people and was highly critical of NZTA’s absence, Mr Parker said NZTA did not attend because it had no new information on the project to present.

“NZTA began consultation on June 21 and over six weeks attended 29 stakeholder and community meetings with more than 300 attendees around the Northern Rodney area. This included meeting 140 people at the Puhoi Community Forum where consultation material was presented. Consultation is about listening to what people have to say and NZTA has records of what was said at each meeting, as well as the public meeting in Puhoi, which will help contribute to the design of the new highway.

“We have received a submission from those present at the second meeting and I can assure you that their feedback will be considered alongside the others that we have received from people in Rodney.”

Mr Parker said the preferred alignment for the motorway should be available for a second phase of consultation with the community before Christmas. However, there was still significant work to do before this could occur.

He said NZTA was very happy with the excellent response it had received during consultation, as the purpose was to obtain feedback on key principles before moving to the next step of planning the route.

“We will now work through the feedback and review the design principles in the light of the information provided. Specific attention will be paid to the feedback on access points at Warkworth and Wellsford and the current proposal to have no interchange at Puhoi.”

Residents from the Puhoi, Ahuroa and Mahurangi West who attended the July 21 meeting, voted unanimously to fight any plan to deny them access to a new State Highway 1. As a result of the meeting, a forum involving residents, NZTA, Rodney District Council and the Auckland Regional Council was held at the end of last month.

The 38km Puhoi to Wellsford road of national significance (RoNS) will be developed over the next 12 years with the aim of making the journey easier, safer and more enjoyable.

Part of the investigations will consider whether the road should be tolled. According to NZTA, if these investigations find that tolling can provide a source of funding, it may enable construction of the new highway sooner.

Published August 2010