Viewpoint – Infrastructure investment underlined

I was very pleased to attend the opening of that new Puhoi to Warkworth stretch of motorway recently. It’s a safe and efficient way for our area to connect with the north, in particular. While derided by the then-Opposition parties as a “holiday highway”, the reality was always that it would enhance safety, improve productivity (with less time stuck in traffic) and allow locals to get home more quickly to their families at the end of the day. It’s been a long journey, so to speak, but this public-private partnership seems to have worked well.

Equally impressive is the Matakana link road, an important connection delivered by local firm Wharehine Contractors. Among other benefits, these arterial links will take some pressure off Warkworth’s notorious Hill Street intersection, allowing long-overdue works to take place there. All this is to highlight the crucial importance of infrastructure to the local area.

As it’s election year, I’d be remiss not to point out that parties should be putting forward policies in this space as mid-October draws nearer. National has been on the side of arguing for more motorway connections for many years now, for all the reasons I’ve described above. As a bonus, we recognise that having vehicles move efficiently at a reasonable speed will result in less pollution, with fewer stop-start movements needed than in congestion and less time spent emitting fumes.

On a less positive note, the power outage last month hit many households and retail commerce very hard. I’ve been asking for answers as to how this happened and what steps can be taken to ensure more resilience into the future.

More excitingly, the One Mahurangi Winter Festival of Lights is just a few weeks away. We’re so fortunate that public-spirited community heroes step up to organise these types of events. It’ll be great to see many readers of Mahurangi Matters supporting this occasion come mid-July. Hope to see you there!

It’ll also be great to see you at the public meeting at which I’ll shortly be hosting Christopher Luxon, the leader of National. He’d love to meet as many locals as possible, so please join us on Thursday, July 13 at 10.30am at Warkworth Town Hall.