After years of uncertainty and delays, the Government has announced that construction of the East-West Connection motorway has been brought forward and will go ahead in 2018.
The project, estimated to cost between $1.25 and $1.85 billion, will provide a link between the South-Western Motorway (SH20) and the Southern Motorway (SH1).
Maungakiekie MP Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga welcomes the government’s decision and says, “it will help drive the ‘engine room’ of New Zealand’s industrial and manufacturing economy”.
“It will benefit the local residents and businesses with the reduction of heavy traffic on local roads and more streamlined freight delivery. It will also allow improvements to public transport, walking and cycling,” Mr Lotu-Iiga says.
While the final decision about the design of the Neilson Street/Gloucester Park Interchange is yet to be made, in the next couple of months NZTA will start“four-laning” a section of Neilson Street, and the Southwestern Motorway will also be widened to four lanes in each direction between Queenstown Road and Neilson Street.
Read more in the March issue of Onehunga Community News.
