Plans for the multibillion-dollar project include a long-debated second Mt Victoria Tunnel.
Wellington’s $3.8 billion mega-highway project has been put forward for Fast-track consideration, despite the transport agency putting the unfunded project on ice until at least 2037.
The State Highway 1 Wellington Improvements project, which includes a second Mt Victoria tunnel, a duplicate Terrace Tunnel and upgrades around the Basin Reserve, was deprioritised in NZTA’s Major Transport Projects Pipeline last month.
But NZTA confirmed today it had lodged a Fast-track application for the project, calling it a “significant milestone” that would help “protect the route”.
“All future stages of the work including further design and construction are subject to further funding decisions,” an NZTA spokesman said.
The updated pipeline shows no detailed design work, pre-implementation planning, or construction beginning, for at least a decade.
A second Mt Victoria tunnel has been long debated in the capital and was previously planned in the now-killed Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) project.
The project’s business case states changes would spell less congestion, with up to 10 minutes’ time savings during peak periods on journeys across the city.
In its current iteration, the project would also see a new 3.6m-wide fully separated shared walking and cycling path through Mt Victoria.
The National Party campaigned in 2023 on progressing the tunnel as a “major infrastructure priority”, promising to consent the project and begin construction before the 2026 election.
But Transport Minister Chris Bishop later said the main construction would start in 2029.
Bishop today said it was “great to see progress on this important project for Wellington”.
The Herald earlier revealed that it would take a decade to build.
Full details of the Fast-track application will be released after it had been assessed by the Environmental Protection Authority, the spokesman said.
Ethan Manera is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.
