EDITORIAL Wellington’s mega tunnel is surely just a pipe dream

• Published date: 18 April 2024
• Publication title: Northern Advocate, The (Whangarei, New Zealand)

It’s hard to deny the appeal of such a major infrastructure project for grid-locked, leaking Wellington, not only making the trip to and from the airport 15 minutes faster, but also making city streets safer and more accessible

And that’s exactly the vision Transport Minister Simeon Brown is selling to explain why he’s re-exploring a failed tunnel from three years ago, canned because of the cost.

First floated as part of the now-scrapped Let’s Get Wellington Moving project, the long tunnel would bypass the inner city and stretch about 4km from The Terrace to Kilbirnie, making it longer than Auckland’s Waterview Tunnel at 2.4km.

It was rejected in 2021, ultimately because of its “eye-watering” cost. No figure has ever been officially provided, but Greater Wellington Regional Council’s Thomas Nash understood initial estimates could be as much as $10 billion.

The investigation into the long tunnel is happening in parallel with a second Mt Victoria tunnel and upgrades around the Basin Reserve, estimated to cost $2.2b.

Brown has asked NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi officials to revisit the idea, seeking advice on a long tunnel’s technical feasibility, cost and funding and financing options.

But if such a tunnel was deemed unaffordable in 2021 — when the Government of the day was actively looking for projects to invest in and cash was flowing freely — there’s no way we can afford it...