Wellington Northern Corridor Road of National Significance: Peka Peka to Otaki Section – construction investment

Applicant

NZ Transport Agency

Purpose

To update the Board on the Christchurch Northern Arterial project, seek approval to invest and delegate to the Chief Executive authority to determine the final scope of works for the state highway components.

Date of decision

18 December 2015

Resolutions

The New Zealand Transport Agency Board:

a.	noted that all conditions of Board resolution 08/06/3115 relating to the Wellington Northern Corridor Roads of National Significance funding conditions for the Investigation and Design phases have been met for the Peka Peka to Otaki Expressway project
b.	approved funding for the construction of the NZ Transport Agency’s State Highway 1 Peka Peka to Otaki Expressway project at an estimated cost of $312 million from national funds
c.	noted that the expected total construction cost of the project, including property and escalation, is estimated at $341 million, the 95th percentile cost is estimated at $359 million and the 5th percentile at $283 million
d.	noted that the project has been assessed under the Transport Agency’s Investment Assessment Framework as a component of the Wellington Northern Corridor package with a profile of high strategic fit, high effectiveness and a benefit cost ratio of 1.6, and that the reasons for this decision are set out in the ‘Reasons for recommendation’ section in Attachment 1.

Reason for the decision

The project is on SH1, which is a national strategic route. This section of SH1 is part of the Wellington Northern Corridor Road of National Significance (RoNS), one of seven major State highways prioritised for enhancements in order to reduce congestion, increase transport efficiency, improve safety, and support economic growth.

The assessment profile for this activity has been determined under the Transport Agency’s Investment Assessment Framework as a component of the Wellington Northern Corridor RoNS as High strategic fit, High effectiveness and a benefit-cost ratio of 1.6 (HH1.6).

The Wellington Northern Corridor RoNS seeks to enhance inter-regional and national economic growth and productivity; improve access to the Wellington port, CBD, airport and hospital; improve journey time reliability and relieve congestion on SH1 and in the main urban centres along SH1; improve safety and reduce crashes; improve network resilience to crashes and natural disasters; improve walking and cycling; and provide improved local network operation and opportunities for urban design, travel choice and community connectivity.

The expected outcomes from investing in the WNC are:

a reduction in travel times between Wellington Airport and Levin by up to 40 minutes;
reduced fuel costs and increased contribution to economic growth;
reduced traffic congestion within communities;
increased highway capacity to accommodate the forecast growth in the region’s population and freight volumes; and,
a significant reduction in the number of fatal and serious injury crashes of approximately 40 per five year period by 2031.

As an integral part of the Wellington Northern Corridor RoNS, and as a stand-alone proposal, the project will provide:

fatal and serious crash savings predicted beyond 2031 to be 5 in a 5 year period (i.e. 1 per year)
predicted travel time savings approaching 2 minutes in the morning peak period (southbound – from 2031), noting that Otaki is currently a bottleneck creating delays most weekends with acute delays at holiday periods
travel time reliability and route security through the Wellington Region.

Accordingly, the project is a key component of a number of national, regional, and local transport strategies, policies, and plans to improve transport in the region and nationally.

Overall the project is consistent with the objectives and policies of the relevant national and regional statutory planning documents. It is consistent with the transport-related policies of the Regional Land Transport Programme and the Kāpiti Coast District Plan.

The project will meet the growing transportation needs of the region, in a manner that does not preclude future opportunities for other land transport development, such as public transport and the Government’s business growth agenda. This includes supporting economic growth on the Kāpiti Coast while providing connections across the lower North Island.