New motorway “opens” on the Kapiti Coast

OPINION: Although there was no big announcement, the new MacKays Crossing to Peka-Peka motorway on the Kapiti Coast opened for traffic over the weekend.  So we went for a ride.  As far as the motorway itself is concerned, it is a road like any other road – it just happens to be brand new.  It will be several years before the extensive plantings and other environmental works start to have any impact and that will I think be something to see.

One great feature was the number of people using the combined cycleway and walkway alongside the main road.

However, the road was very evidently not ready for full use and I can visualise the sort of conversation that might have gone on in the Minister’s office:

Minister: “ I said the motorway would be finished by now and I would like people to be using it”

Officials: “But Minister there is still work to do – it is still a work in progress,  Maybe we should defer …

Minister: “Don’t give me excuses, I want the road open and that is that”.

Using the road there were very evident, presumably temporary, problems at both the northern and southern end points.  We drove all the way to Peka-Peka in the expectation that there would be a round-about at the end which would enable us to choose whether to return to the motorway to go south or continue north on the old road.  No so!  The motorway just morphed into the new road and we had to go down a side road to enable us to turn across the traffic to go south again.  We were joined by quite a queue of other cars.

At the Southern end, the publicity said that you could not access the motorway at that point to go South – but you could!!!  All the temporary roading enabling an entry to the south was still in place.

Maybe a later opening date and a more complete job might have been better. Or maybe a better prior explanation of things still to be done.

I must admit I have two gripes about the new motorway, the decision to not have an access road from the local road to the motorway at Raumati South, for going south, seems absurd and unnecessary.  There is effectively already a slip road in place for that and it would be low cost to make it permanent.  Forcing Raumati residents to use the traffic light controlled entry/exit on Kapiti Road seems pointless and I can see some very frustrating holdups occurring with all those lights.  And the decision to use control lights rather than proper slipways on Kapiti Road is my other gripe.

It will be interesting to see how it all works out in practice.