State Highways you'd like to see improved

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#2117376 31-Oct-2018 12:57

WyleECoyoteNZ:

And why only do AKL-WGN? Why not the entire length of SH1 from Bluff to Cape Reinga? Maybe include a bridge over the cook strait while we're at it, and a tunnel under the strait too for when it's too windy to use the bridge :-)

You jest, but I think we _should_ be doing that..

4 laning SH1 it's entire length (and the other major highways) is simply a no brainer to me.

As for crossing the strait, the only real barrier to building a cook strait tunnel is cost. Stuff had a write up about the possibility earlier this year, and it's pretty clear it would cost tens of billions of dollars to build, but that's not really that outrageous when you look at the cost of Waterview, City Rail Link, Transmission Gully, etc.

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wratterus

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#2117381 31-Oct-2018 13:42

DarthKermit:

Speaking of that lovely 1950's era piece of SH1 south of Levin, I pointed out the following fact in my thread about the closure of SH1 for 17 hours due to a truck crash at Labour weekend:

SH1 bridge

This miserable little bridge on our main highway is the only road crossing this stream in the north island. Check google maps and you'll see I'm right. All the successive governments who have done f. all to improve this situation should hang their heads in shame.

Funny you say that. We got caught in a massive traffic jam after there was a truck v car on that railway overbridge right there on the 5th of Feb this year.

12 people missed flights out of Wellington, was an expensive afternoon.

The sooner that bit of road is sorted the better.

Geektastic

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#2125452 14-Nov-2018 10:47

Interesting story from The Times today:

"Road designers and managers should take ultimate responsibility for every death on their network, transport chiefs have been told.

To reduce fatalities and serious injuries, every investigation into a major accident must ask whether a different road layout, speed limit or safety policy would have prevented it rather than focusing solely on the actions of those involved, Matts-Ake Belin, senior advisor to the Swedish Transport Administration, said at a Transport for London (TfL) conference today. Individual road users must still be held accountable for their behaviour, he said, but human error can never be eliminated entirely, so the main focus should be on designing a foolproof road network.

TfL brought global experts together for a conference on “vision zero”, a strategy in the capital to challenge the view that serious accidents on the roads are inevitable. There were 1,710 deaths and 25,420 serious injuries on Britain’s roads in the year to June 2017. In London, 131 people died, including 73 pedestrians, the largest pedestrian death toll since 2011."

So perhaps we could have our road designers made legally responsible....

Ge0rge

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#2125459 14-Nov-2018 10:56

Geektastic:
Interesting story from The Times today:

"Road designers and managers should take ultimate responsibility for every death on their network, transport chiefs have been told.

So perhaps we could have our road designers made legally responsible....

Perhaps we might see a tunnel through our hill instead of the current goat-track if that was the case @geektastic?

nickb800

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#2125469 14-Nov-2018 11:12

Ge0rge:
Geektastic:

Interesting story from The Times today:

"Road designers and managers should take ultimate responsibility for every death on their network, transport chiefs have been told.

So perhaps we could have our road designers made legally responsible....

Perhaps we might see a tunnel through our hill instead of the current goat-track if that was the case @geektastic?

So the next headline will be "Roading budget set to quadruple, taxes hiked, due to risk averse road designers"

Ge0rge

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#2125493 14-Nov-2018 11:30

Do it right the first time, and you only have to do it once...

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Jase2985

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#2126538 14-Nov-2018 13:32

yes but where do you draw the line? every single road with a centre barrier to stop someone on the other side hitting you because they were drunk, fell asleep or lost concentration?

Ge0rge

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#2126698 14-Nov-2018 16:03

Jase2985:
yes but where do you draw the line? every single road with a centre barrier to stop someone on the other side hitting you because they were drunk, fell asleep or lost concentration?

Possibly - what if we said that the above would be true for any road with a speed limit above say 80kph? And if you can't make it meet those guidelines, bring the speed limit down to suit?

I'm sure we can all think of a road that has a 100kph limit that absolutely should not have.

DarthKermit

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#2126704 14-Nov-2018 16:09

Ge0rge:

Perhaps we might see a tunnel through our hill instead of the current goat-track if that was the case

Are you talking about the Rimutakas? Currently the longest road tunnel in the world is 24.5 km long, in Norway. But considering how a lot of us drive in NZ maybe a long tunnel isn't a good idea.

Ge0rge

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#2126711 14-Nov-2018 16:18

DarthKermit:
Ge0rge:

Perhaps we might see a tunnel through our hill instead of the current goat-track if that was the case

Are you talking about the Rimutakas? Currently the longest road tunnel in the world is 24.5 km long, in Norway. But considering how a lot of us drive in NZ maybe a long tunnel isn't a good idea.

I am, yes. Certainly acknowledge your point. I do think that a tunnel through could be significantly shorter than that, probably only a 10th of that length to be fair. If you look at the current road, it travels up the southern side of a valley to the summit, and then back down the same southern side on the opposite side of the range. I would envisage a road that followed the valley floor, below the current road, through the ridge under the summit, and then followed the valley floor again until it met the current road. I'm on my phone or I'd draw a finger-sketch, but if you Google maps the Remutaka summit and then look just to the North of the road you should be able to see what I mean. Apologies if you're a local and don't need to look at the map to know...

MikeB4

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#2126716 14-Nov-2018 16:29

DarthKermit:

Ge0rge:

Perhaps we might see a tunnel through our hill instead of the current goat-track if that was the case

Are you talking about the Rimutakas? Currently the longest road tunnel in the world is 24.5 km long, in Norway. But considering how a lot of us drive in NZ maybe a long tunnel isn't a good idea.

Apparantly a lot of Wairarapa residents don't want a tunnel through the Remutaka Hill, They feel it will ruin the Wairarapa way of life.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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blakamin

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#2126747 14-Nov-2018 17:57

Ge0rge:

I would envisage a road that followed the valley floor, below the current road, through the ridge under the summit, and then followed the valley floor again until it met the current road. I'm on my phone or I'd draw a finger-sketch, but if you Google maps the Remutaka summit and then look just to the North of the road you should be able to see what I mean. Apologies if you're a local and don't need to look at the map to know...

Then you'll just end up with another case of "Manawatu Gorge" as the top of the hill keeps falling on the road.

Lias

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#2126776 14-Nov-2018 19:35

MikeB4:

Apparantly a lot of Wairarapa residents don't want a tunnel through the Remutaka Hill, They feel it will ruin the Wairarapa way of life.

NIMBYism at it's finest :-)

Geektastic

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#2126831 14-Nov-2018 21:18

Ge0rge:
Geektastic:
Interesting story from The Times today:

"Road designers and managers should take ultimate responsibility for every death on their network, transport chiefs have been told.

So perhaps we could have our road designers made legally responsible....

Perhaps we might see a tunnel through our hill instead of the current goat-track if that was the case @geektastic?

Don't tease. It's naughty!

Ge0rge

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#2126832 14-Nov-2018 21:19

blakamin:
Ge0rge:

I would envisage a road that followed the valley floor, below the current road, through the ridge under the summit, and then followed the valley floor again until it met the current road. I'm on my phone or I'd draw a finger-sketch, but if you Google maps the Remutaka summit and then look just to the North of the road you should be able to see what I mean. Apologies if you're a local and don't need to look at the map to know...

Then you'll just end up with another case of "Manawatu Gorge" as the top of the hill keeps falling on the road.

Hmmm I would have to respectfully disagree with you there. The topography is very different and the road itself would not be carved from a hillside but rather built at the base of the valleys. There is no massive river, instead a small creek, and there's more than enough room for four lanes to share with the creek up to the entrance to the tunnel/s.

I've walked up the Wairarapa valley side quite often, and it would be very doable, but I can't see it happening in my lifetime I'm afraid. The South Wairarapa Mayor is actually really keen, as well as the MP, but neither on the Wellington side are interested at all unfortunately.

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