Category: Radio New Zealand

Three Months, Two Flyovers, And Some Branded Umbrellas

Posted on by tjonescan

Last week was quite a week for the campaign to stop a motorway flyover being built at the Basin Reserve. Events happened so rapidly that we never got round to covering them here, so here is a quick recap of the week.

Three-month extension to Basin Flyover Board of Inquiry

It had been evident for some time that the Basin “Bridge” Board of Inquiry was not going to meet its original, or even its revised, timetable. To their credit, the Board wrote to the minister and asked for an extension, which the Minister has now granted.

The Board was due to present its final report on 31 May. It now has until 31 August to report, which means that its final report, and any consequent legal action, will be happening around the time of the General Election.

Subsequent to this decision, the Board released a revised draft hearing timetable.

If you are a submitter who is making an oral submission, someone calling witnesses, or an expert witness, make sure you check this timetable and the further changes that have already occurred. Some submitters have already found that they have been scheduled to appear twice. Most individual submitters will now be scheduled to appear on Fridays. Due to the extension, there may also be a change in the hearing venue, which is currently the Amora Hotel.

Coverage of the three-month extension

Three-month extension announced – Minister “disappointed” (Wellington Scoop)

Reaction to decision (including Save the Basin’s reaction) (Dominion Post)

Delay to flyover hearing “good news, inevitable” say Labour MPs (Wellington Scoop)

Correspondence from Board’s lawyers shows that strength of cross-examination from flyover opponents was a major factor in the Board’s request for an extension (Wellington Scoop)

Other highlights of the week

New pictures give clearer view of Basin flyover impact (Dominion Post)

Radio New Zealand investigates all the money the New Zealand Transport Agency has been splurging on promoting the Government’s Roads of National Significance Projects – aka its plan to cover the country in motorways. (Although it’s the smallest item discussed, I particularly liked the fact that NZTA spent some  money on ‘branded umbrellas’. I feel we can all sleep more soundly knowing how well public money is being spent.)

The Wellington Civic Trust raises an issue that’s been bubbling under at the flyover hearings: the likelihood that approval for one Basin Reserve flyover would soon lead to a second flyover, running in the opposite direction, being built. (Dominion Post)

NZTA forced to combat allegations that it added the sub-standard combined pedestrian walkway/cycleway to the flyover proposal as a sop to Wellington City Council. (Dominion Post)

NZTA’s Basin Flyover Plans In Serious Trouble: Media Agrees

Posted on by tjonescan

Opponents of NZTA’s proposed Basin Reserve flyover have said all along that NZTA behaved in an arrogant and high-handed manner during the supposed “consultation” process on its Basin Reserve flyover plan. Now that arrogance and high-handedness has come back to bite NZTA – and it’s not just us saying it.

The updated Basin Bridge Project Traffic and Transportation Peer Review (PDF, 4.1 MB), commissioned by the Board and prepared by Abley Transportation Consultants, raises such severe criticisms of the project that NZTA’s only honourable course of action would be to withdraw their current proposal and think again. (Of course, NZTA has dismissed the Transport Peer Review’s criticisms and announced its intention to press on regardless.)

There has been a striking shift in the tone of the Dominion Post’s coverage of the proposed flyover this month, and Michael Forbes of the DomPost has prepared this excellent summary of the key criticisms contained in the Abley Report:

Serious red flags raised over flyover: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/9639260/Serious-red-flags-raised-over-flyover

Wellington Scoop, which has a distinguished track record of investigative journalism on the issue, expanded on the Dominion Post article, noting previous criticisms by Save the Basin:

More (and more) confirmation that there are better alternatives than the flyover: http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=63947

This article highlights the transport evidence to be presented  at the forthcoming Board of Inquiry hearing by one of Save the Basin’s expert transport witnesses, David Young:

David Young, who for eight years was Transit NZ’s national planning manager, confirms that there is a low-cost at-grade option for solving Basin traffic problems without a flyover. He asks why the Agency failed to allow Wellingtonians the choice of this non-flyover option. Had it been been identified and included in the consultation process, he says, it is likely that it would have been preferred by affected parties “and would, or at least should, have been selected by the Transport Agency.”

This expert witness also says the “grossly uneconomic” flyover will cause significant adverse environmental effects and he asks why the Agency is understating environmental issues related to the flyover.

Wellington Scoop’s report of the original version of the Transport Peer Review is here: 49 key concerns about the flyover: http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=63947

Radio New Zealand also covered the issue on Checkpoint: Basin Reserve flyover plan criticised: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/234062/basin-reserve-flyover-plan-criticised

As a campaigner, it can be easy to feel like a lone voice in the wilderness. Not any more!