Road leading to transmission gully closed to ‘critical’ work after just two years

The Waitangirua Link Road will close for up to five months from 4 November.
Photo: Google Maps

Wellington’s Transmission Gully link road is being demolished – just two years after it opened.

Porirua City Council, Wellington Electricity, Wellington Water and Kāinga Ora are teaming up to undertake “critical infrastructure” service upgrades on Waitangirua Link Road and adjacent Whitby Link Road, Te Ara Kāpehu.

The council said the work aims to improve the resilience of the electricity grid and expand drinking water services for the fast-growing eastern suburbs.

Porirua City Council said the Waitangirua Link Road will be closed from November 4.

Photo: Delivered / Porirua City Council

The council said the road will be closed for up to five months while new drinking water pipes are installed and cables installed to upgrade the electricity network.

While the road was closed, the council will also remove wild pine trees, clear vegetation and install signs indicating the increased speed limit on the road, which has been increased to 60km/h as part of the Speed ​​Management Plan.

Once the Waitangirua Link Road reopens, pipe and cable work will begin on the adjacent Whitby, Te Ara Kapehu road.

The council said the work will take around two months and one lane is expected to remain open to traffic.

People on social media have hit out at the council over the road works, questioning why the infrastructure work was not carried out when the road was built.

But Porirua City Council general manager of infrastructure Mike Mendonsa said the option was not considered two years ago and the road was not opened at all.

He told Morning Report that ideally everything would have been done at the same time, but neither the water company nor the electricity company were ready to go at the time.

“Of course, these projects had a long time frame, and at that time there was no agreement or funding,” Mendonça said.

“That’s the way it is now, and the truth is if we don’t do this work now, we won’t be able to develop this part of the city.”

He acknowledged the move to Whitby would be inconvenient for motorists but was not “indicative” and said it should only add five to 10 minutes to their typical journey time.

The council said the scale and timing of the nearby housing development was not known at the time and there were no plans to build a new reservoir to which the pipes would connect.

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