Upper Hutt's River Road - a story of mismanagement causing death

In March 1987 Upper Hutt welcomed the long-awaited Upper Hutt bypass, which was quickly named as "River Road" to take SH2 away from the long, slow, traffic signal stopped drive through Silverstream, Heretaunga, Trentham, Wallaceville and Upper Hutt along Fergusson Drive, to a new fast route, at state highway speeds, following the Hutt River to Moonshine Rd, then crossing to the east side of the river to connect at Maoribank.  The road was one of the last major highway projects in the Wellington region commissioned by the National Roads Board (NRB), which was an arm of the Ministry of Works & Development (MWD).  In 1989 these functions would be transferred to a new Crown entity called Transit New Zealand, which would be state highway manager and land transport funder, and the MWD would be reformed into a state-owned enterprise, which would be later split and privatised in 1996. The motivation behind these reforms is a part of this story.

The new road not only saved considerable time for through traffic from the Wairarapa through to Lower Hutt and Wellington, but also better connected the western suburbs of Upper Hutt, and removed a great deal of heavy traffic from Fergusson Drive, where it interacted with pedestrians, cyclists and created safety hazards and generated pollution for the city.  Ultimately it opened up new areas for housing west of the river at what is now known as Riverstone Terraces.

However, the road was built at a deliberately low cost.  It had sign and traffic signal controlled intersections, rather than grade-separated ones.  The Moonshine Road intersection placed immediately north of the bridge was particularly poorly designed (and has since been relegated to having access to/from the highway southbound only).

Despite having a 100km/h limit, the new Moonshine Bridge was built to a 70 km/h design standard, creating an awkwardly tight bend for highway traffic around halfway along the route. It also was not built with any passing lanes, a problem which became clear soon after it was opened, as motorists complained about being stuck behind trucks, but also motorists who would stop along the route to sightsee or park by the river.  

The MWD had a solution. It did not have the funding (which at the time was part of the annual budgeting process of the Minister of Finance) to widen the road for passing lanes at the conventional highway lane width standard of 3.5 metres.  The road had been built with one 3.5 metre lane in each direction, and with sealed shoulders.  So it was decided as a quick fix, to fashion passing lanes between Silverstream and Moonshine Bridge within the pre-existing sealed carriageway, by removing the sealed shoulder so that an additional lane could be marked out.  This was done, but had several major problems:

• The lane widths were narrowed to be 3m not 3.5m
• The passing lane taper lengths were shorter than the usual standard
• The speed limit remained the same
• No median barriers, let alone painted median was installed.

The effect of building these narrow, short lanes, was devastating and a series of fatal accidents occurred over several months.  Seven people were killed in four accidents in four months.  The fatalities would continue. 

Ultimately funding was granted in the following year to widen the road so that the passing lanes were built to a proper standard, widened and lengthened.  Some years later a median barrier was installed.  It was notable that in 1988 the new Chair of the National Roads Board and Minister of Transport was also local MP, Bill Jefferies.  He would subsequently preside over reforms that meant he would not be involved in picking the projects to be funded, and to set up Transit New Zealand as a professional Crown agency a a dedicated state highway manager and land transport funder. In parallel, the MWD would be split and would have to compete with private contractors for state highway construction work. 

The clipping below highlight the celebrations on the opening of the bypass, and one article reporting the death toll and calls to upgrade the road.

1996 National Roading Programme: Wellington NRP news

 The Wellington regional newsletter of the 1996 NRP has the following key statistics:

• $62m for the Wellington region
• $26.9m for the Nelson/Marlborough/Tasman districts
• For the Wellington region, state highway maintenance and construction is the largest output class comprising 34.9% of spending. Passenger transport was 25.4% of spending as the second largest output class.
• For Nelson/Marlborough/Tasman, state highway maintenance and construction was also the largest output class at 55.2% of spending

Unlike Christchurch, the Wellington newsletter contained little detail, noting the following committed projects:

• SH58 Judgeford realignment
• SH1 Newlands Interchange
• SH2 Gibbons Street seagull roundabout Upper Hutt

New projects funded included:

• SH6 Stoke Bypass, Nelson (the largest road project in the region)
• SH1 Basin Reserve traffic signals
• SH1 Paraparaumu widening
• SH60 reconstruction between Maisey and Bronte
• SH1 Thorndon motorway viaduct further strengthening 
• SH6 Spooners Hill passing lane
• Mungavin Bridge duplication, Porirua

Wellington traffic and transport funding woes in the 1990s

This post is a series of articles from 1990 through to 1999 discussing the issues and funding of roads and urban transport more generally in Wellington.

This article from 1990 reflects the cuts in funding in the last budget under the Fourth Labour Government, at the time under Geoffrey Palmer, which provided $153m less funding that Transit New Zealand sought.  Projects threatened (and delayed) were:

• Korokoro/Petone upgrade to SH2 (which was not undertaken until the late 1990s)
• Fergusson Drive median barriers Upper Hutt City (which did not proceed)
• Cable Street extension Wellington (which did proceed to create the one-way system with Wakefield Street)
• Ramp Bridge replacement Porirua, SH1 (which proceeded in the late 1990s.

This feature by Kate Coughlan in The Dominion describes the major traffic problems in Wellington in the 1990s.  It concludes that there is unlikely to be any significant relief. It summarises some of the issues of driving in the morning peak and follow by a map with traffic figures describing the main choke points. 

This summary is a fair report of the key traffic bottlenecks across the region in 1996.  To review where these now are in 2013:

• Paremata-Pukerua Bay: The proposed solution at the time was implemented, with a second Paremata Bridge, clearways, traffic lights through to Plimmerton and four-laning through Plimmerton.  This relieved congestion at this location, but Pukerua Bay became the major bottleneck. This was addressed long-term with the Transmission Gully motorway, although the forecast it would be open by 2006 proved to be more than a decade out.
• SH2:  In 1996 the problems were the intersections at Korokoro and Melling. The best solution mooted was the Cross Valley Link (which has not yet been built), but the proposed solution was grade separation at Korokoro, Dowse Drive and Melling.  Korokoro and Dowse Drive were built in the early 2000s, but Melling although funded is yet to commence construction.  In 2023, Melling remains a major bottleneck, but north of Manor Park, SH2 is particularly slow in the AM peak.
• Mungavin Avenue: In 1996, the Mungavin Roundabout queued back to Cannons Creek. As reported, the solution was a duplicate Mungavin Bridge, which was built in 1998 and addressed the bottleneck.
• Newlands lights:  The busiest traffic light controlled intersection on SH1 was a major bottleneck, but as reported, the Newlands Interchange had been funded and would permanently relieve this bottleneck. 
• Wellington city motorway offramps: Not specific on the ramps, but noted that policy was to discourage car commuting into the CBD, and encourage public transport use by sustaining subsidies for rail and bus services.  This appears largely to have succeeded as traffic to the Wellington CBD in the AM peak has been flat for over 20 years.
• Karori Road:  The Karori Tunnel and Karori Road were bottlenecks with very slow traffic at the time and this has not changed. The best solution at the time was said to be to widen Karori Road and duplicate the tunnel, but the expected solution was a bus lane.  The outcome was the Chaytor Street bus lane, which is soon to be removed to accommodate an uphill cycle lane under Let's Get Wellington Moving.  Karori Tunnel remains a bottleneck.
• Mt Victoria Tunnel/Basin Reserve:  The 1996 bottleneck was traffic exiting Mt Victoria Tunnel to the Basin Reserve, and from Adelaide Road. The preferred solution was grade-separation at the Basin Reserve, but planned solution was traffic signals. In 2023, the Basin Reserve is a major bottleneck, as is the tunnel. 
• Terrace Tunnel to Mt Victoria Tunnel: Congestion between the two tunnels was chronic in the 1990s with the dog-leg route between the tunnels.  The preferred solution was to duplicate the tunnels and connect them with the proposed cut-and-cover motorway extension. However, what was expected was the "Inner City Bypass" of Karo Drive with a one-way system. This was expected to be completed by 2000, but did not finish until 2007.  In 2023, the two tunnels are major bottlenecks, and Vivian Street/Karo Drive are regularly congested at peak times.
• The Merge (SH2/SH1 Ngauranga): This was described as caused by incompetent driving and the solution was Police presence at the site encouraging better behaviour.  In 2023, the issue remains although northbound in the PM peak, the addition of a fourth lane from Aotea Quay has greatly eased congestion in that direction.

Evening Post 25 June 1996

Meanwhile, the Business Roundtable believed that the time was right to end public transport subsidies, and that the Wellington Regional Council should progressively reduce such subsidies and ensure services paid their own way, and allow more bus services to compete with rail. These proposals were not taken up.

The Evening Post editorial of 22 June 1996 focused on transport funding in Wellington, noting that the $930m wishlist of the Regional Council for roads and public transport would take 180 years to be funded, at the levels available at the time. At the time it included Transmission Gully, a major upgrade to the Rimutaka Hill Road and replacing the old electric multiple units with light rail.  It had proposed a tax on inner city carparks, which did not proceed. The Evening Post proposed that money directed from fuel tax to the Crown account be put into the National Roading Fund.  Ultimately this did happen, but not until after 2008. Subsequently Transmission Gully was funded, along with some upgrades to the Rimutaka Hill Road, but it was decided that light rail was not a viable replacement for the English Electric EMUs in Wellington, and Korean-built "Matangi" units. 

Evening Post 06 September 1996

The Wellington Regional Council transport committee discussed in 1996 the idea of putting a toll on SH1 Ngauranga Gorge to raise money to fund its proposed transport programme. Noting that the only elements of transport in Wellington it has authority to fund are public transport as it is not a road controlling authority.  The proposal would have charged $1 for traffic entering Wellington via the Ngauranga Interchange.  It received widespread opposition and no support from Government, and did not proceed.

Evening Post 22 June 1997

Trucking lobby group, the Road Transport Association (RTA) was highly critical of transport policies in Wellington in 1997, including the specific policy of not increasing the capacity of highways entering Wellington from the north.  Former Minister of Works and Chief Executive of the RTA, Tony Friedlander, was critical of the ruling out of extra capacity between Ngauranga and Petone (which at the time was planned to be a third southbound lane from Horokiwi to Ngauranga using the space of the current cycleway). This had been opposed by the Regional Council.  

The article also notes that trolley buses were to be phased out in five years (which did not occur for another 15 years), and the Wellington Regional Council wanted to tax carparks in Wellington, Hutt and Upper Hutt and Porirua cities.

The above article discussed proposals to four-lane Johnsonville Road from Ngauranga Gorge to the Moorefield Road roundabout.  The land was designated to enable widening, and was proposed to relieve congestion from through traffic adjacent to the retail precinct.  The proposal generated strong opinions in favour and against, but other options were also mentioned, including converting Johnsonville Road to a mall and building a new motorway interchange at Helston Road (to remove through traffic), both ruled out due to cost.  

Evening Post 30 April 1999

The Evening Post in 1999 reported on the draft Land Transport Strategy of the Wellington Regional Council, which was essentially its wishlist of road and public transport projects for the region. Statistics NZ reported that car commuting was falling across the region, with public transport patronage growing.  Proposed projects for roads were:

• Kapiti Western Link Road (not built, replaced by Kapiti Expressway)
• Mackays Crossing overbridge (built in the early 2000s)
• Transmission Gully (completed in 2022)
• Pauatahanui Bridge upgrade (completed in late 1990s)
• SH1 improvements Paremata-Pukerua Bay (completed in early 2000s)
• Rimutaka Hill Road upgrades (some completed in 2010s)
• Kaitoke realignment (completed in 2000s)
• SH58/SH2 interchange (completed in 2016)
• Petone Esplanade upgrade (not undertaken)
• SH2 Petone-Ngauranga bus lane (not undertaken)
• Karori bus lane (completed in late 1990s)
• Inner City Bypass and Adelaide Road upgrade (Stage 2 bypass completed 2007, Adelaide Road upgrade did not proceed)

Public transport projects proposed were:

• Electrification to Waikanae (completed 2011)
• Raumati station (never built)
• Upgrades to Petone, Upper Hutt and Paraparaumu stations
• Porirua to Hutt bus service (trialled in 1990s but cancelled due to lack of patronage)
• Bus priority signals and lanes in central Wellington (lanes built)
• New bus-rail interchange at Wellington station (built in 2000s)
• Pedestrian covers in central Wellington streets (some built in 2000s)

The Regional Council also proposed light rail from Plimmerton to Whitby (which has not proceeded), between Melling and Waterloo stations (which has not proceeded) and to investigate light rail from Wellington station to the BNZ centre (southern end of Lambton Quay) (the latter is proposed as part of Let's Get Wellington Moving, but extended to Island Bay). 

Evening Post 30 June 1998 and 26 April 1999

These two articles reflect actual funding provided in 1998 and the Wellington Regional Council's proposed Land Transport Strategy in 1999. 

The 1998 article noted that the 1998-1999 National Roading Programme reduced funding for Wellington by 25% from the previous year, although total funding nationally increased by 6.2%.  The reason being that fewer construction work was funded for the 1998-1999 year, because of most of the completion of the Newlands Interchange.  Future construction projects were in the investigation and design stage, specifically the Dowse Drive/Korokoro upgrade on SH2, Kapiti Western Link Road, Karori bus lane and the Daly St extension to Queens Drive, Hutt City.  It was expected those projects would start the following year, but the first two did not.  Funding was provided for completion of the Newlands Interchange. Thorndon motorway viaduct earthquake strengthening, Kapiti Rd SH1 intersection upgrade.

 The article on the right saw the WRC propose to be undertaken between 1999 and 2004:

• Bus lane on SH2 from Horokiwi to Ngauranga (did not proceed in favour of upgrading cycle lane)
• Fourth lane on the Urban Motorway from Ngauranga to Aotea Quay with movable median barrier (did not proceed due to technical difficulties)
• Korokoro-Dowse Drive upgrade/interchange (completed late 2000s)
• Upgrade to Rimutaka Hill Road (Wellington side largely completed)
• Stage 2 Inner City Bypass (opened 2007)

It also proposed projects to be undertaken beyond 2004:

• Transmission Gully (opened 2022) said to cost $245m
• Kapiti Western Link Road (superseded by Kapiti Expressway) estimated at $24m
• Hutt to Porirua link road (not built and not pursued) estimated at $62m
• Upgrading Petone Esplanade (not built)
• Melling and Kennedy Good Interchanges (Melling funding approved in 2022) estimated at $33m

National Land Transport Programme 1996 - Wellington regional office (Wellington, Nelson, Tasman, Marlborough)

 

Top n Tales August 1995

NLTP 1996 - Wellington regional allocation

NLTP 1996 - Wellington state highway and local road projects

Top n Tales August 1995

The Wellington regional office newsletter covering the 1996 NLTP covers both Wellington and the Nelson/Tasman/Marlborough region's funding from Transit New Zealand.  Funding for the NLTP was nearly $47.4m for Wellington and $24.4m for Nelson/Tasman/Marlborough.

Wellington was noted as having the second highest allocation for passenger transport at just over $10m, with the remainder of funding slightly higher for state highways than for local roads. Nelson/Tasman/Marlborough's funding was predominantly for state highways. 

By far the biggest project in the Wellington region was the Newlands Interchange on SH1, which removed the last set of traffic lights on SH1 out of Wellington until the end of the motorway beyond the Mungavin Interchange.  Also of note was funding for the first stage of the Wellington Inner City Bypass, which simply converted Buckle Street and Vivian Street into a one-way pair east of Taranaki Street (feeding onto Vivian and Ghuznee Streets respectively).  It would be nearly ten years before the second stage of the Inner City Bypass would be funded, due to vocal opposition. The largest local road project in Wellington region was reconstruction of the Kent/Cambridge Terrace/Courtenay Place intersection (which is now due to be reconstructed again following decisions in Let's Get Wellington Moving). 

In Nelson/Tasman/Marlborough by far the biggest project was funding for seal extensions in Marlborough and Tasman. The largest state highway project in that region was the committed Whangamoa North Deviation on SH6.

In Transit No.57 October 1994 - forestry impacts on future road maintenance

 

In Transit October 1994 No. 57

In Transit October 1994 No. 57

In Transit October 1994 No.57

In Transit October 1994 No. 57

This issue highlighted challenges from growth in forestry traffic on both state highways and local roads, as Transit NZ had surveyed 18 local authorities expected to be most affected by growth in logging traffic. A 25% increase was expected over five years overall.  The key conclusion was that Transit NZ could fund the maintenance on its network and its share of local road maintenance, with the need being for local authorities to meet their share of funding their networks. 

Other key points in this issue:

• Up to $7m of funding provided to Far North and Whangarei District Councils to both reseal and extend the length of seal on local roads in both districts (all of which have a BCR of 5 or over)
• Discussion about the future of the old Mangere Bridge (which was ultimately dismantled and replaced with a new walking and cycling bridge which opened in 2022).
• Western Australia learning from Transit NZ about addressing accident blackspots.
• Design of the proposal for an alternative to the Wellington Urban Motorway extension, which was ultimately built as the Inner City Bypass Stage 2 (Karo Drive, new on-ramp and Vivian St one way eastbound). 

Ngauranga Interchange

It's 1982, and the National Roads Board (an arm of the Ministry of Works and Development (MOWD)) had approved the Ngauranga Interchange. This interchange which opened in 1984, finally linked the Wellington Urban Motorway to SH1 in Ngauranga Gorge, enabling the vastly underutilised capacity of the Urban Motorway to be used, and relieving chronic congestion at the Ngauranga intersection between the Hutt Road and Ngauranga Gorge Road/Centennial Highway (as Ngauranga Gorge's state highway was known). Of course having three lanes each way in Ngauranga Gorge coming to a halt at a traffic light controlled intersection saw significant traffic jams in the AM peak, and likewise in the PM peak traffic backed up south along the Hutt Road. Indeed before the Ngauranga Interchange, the Hutt Road had along much of its length from Ngauranga to Aotea Quay (as SH1) had a tidal flow lane that operated at peak times in the direction of peak flow.  One limitation of the Interchange, which was due to the limitations of the Urban Motorway, is that Cook Strait Rail Ferry (now Interislander) traffic, including heavy vehicles, would have to continue to exit at Ngauranga and use the Hutt Road and Aotea Quay ramps to access the ferry terminal (this is about to be addressed with construction of a new roundabout on Aotea Quay to enable traffic to exit the Urban Motorway at Aotea Quay and reverse to access the Interislander terminal).

This was one of the last major road projects in Wellington carried out by the MOWD before the National Roads Board and Ministry of Works were abolished, replaced by Transit New Zealand (as the combined state highway manager and land transport funding agency) and Works Corporation (which was subsequently privatised), which itself was subject to competition in highway construction as the sector was opened up to mandatory outsourcing.

The Ngauranga Interchange demonstrated some of the best construction and planning the MOWD did in its latter years, and has stood the test of time. It permanently relieved the congestion at the Ngauranga intersection, although today the key congestion comes from traffic between the Hutt and the Northern Suburbs/Porirua.  The Interchange itself was originally built with one lane dropping/feeding to and from the Urban Motorway, and the second lane breaking/merging. More recently a fourth lane was added by narrowing the shoulder, northbound from Aotea Quay to Ngauranga, relieving northbound congestion, and the southbound merge extended to enable smoother merging.

The legacy of the Ngauranga Interchange includes several other impacts:

1. SH1 status was removed from the Hutt Road and its Aotea Quay ramps and shifted to SH1 (but remained on the Aotea Quay motorway ramps and Aotea, Waterloo, Customhouse and Jervois Quays terminating at Taranaki St until the 1990s).
2. It enabled the Hutt Road/Kaiwharawhara and Ngauranga areas to grow their commercial and retail activities, as the removal of SH1 from that road enabled much easier access to those locations. 
3. It relieved the waterfront route along Aotea/Waterloo/Customhouse/Jervois Quays, as SH1 traffic was not required to use that route to get to Te Aro or other suburbs.
4. It saw the limitations of the end of the Urban Motorway at Ghuznee/Vivian St (with one Terrace Tunnel) become obvious, as congestion there and through Te Aro became a regular occurrence.
5. It gave Wellington one of the most dramatic and beautiful entrances by highway into a capital city anywhere in the world.

Below is a leaflet published by the Government Printer (another government agency privatised subsequently) promoting the Ngauranga Interchange before it was built (apologies for the writing/drawing in parts from school age me)

Ngauranga Interchange publicity leaflet front page

Ngauranga Interchange publicity leaflet page 2

Ngauranga Interchange publicity leaflet page 3

Ngauranga Interchange publicity leaflet page 4

Ngauranga Interchange publicity leaflet page 5

Ngauranga Interchange publicity leaflet page 6