THE Mount Victoria and Terrace tunnels are to get an upgrade, and indications are they will be closed for a period early next year.
The New Zealand Transport Agency is driving the project, and the website earmarks construction to begin in January 2011. The refurbishment is cited to cost between $20 million to $100 million. NZTA had not commented at the time of print.
Patrick Morgan, the project manager of Cycling Advocates Network, says he can’t see how the job could be done without closing the tunnels. Morgan also questions the huge amount of money that may be spent.
“If [the tunnels] don’t meet regulations, they have to spend some money, but it seems like an awful lot.”.
But there are opportunities during the refurbishment to look at the idea of turning a 1970s pilot tunnel at the top of Paterson Street, which is big enough to walk through, into a pedestrian and cyclist access way.
Mount Victoria Residents’ Association president Kent Duston agrees.
“Rather than building the [proposed] second Mount Victoria tunnel, pedestrians and cyclists could use the pilot tunnel, and the existing tunnel could be expanded into three lanes,” he says. “It seems sensible, and it could be done cheaply.”
Duston is positive about the upcoming refurbishment. He says the air quality in the Mount Victoria tunnel is “appallingly bad” for pedestrians, causing some to take up the dangerous activity of walking through the nearby bus tunnel.
The Wellington Tunnels Alliance has been formed by NZTA in conjunction with engineers to refurbish the tunnels.
The group says it’s introducing the project to residents’ associations in close proximity to the tunnels.
It would then like to set up a community reference group to represent tunnel users and surrounding residents.