{"id":65780,"date":"2024-09-03T17:37:58","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T05:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=65780"},"modified":"2025-05-20T12:53:28","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T00:53:28","slug":"luxon-government-transport-plan-steers-nz-back-car-dependent-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/luxon-government-transport-plan-steers-nz-back-car-dependent-past\/","title":{"rendered":"The Luxon Government’s transport plan steers NZ back to a car-dependent\u00a0past"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The government\u2019s new National Land Transport Programme (NLTP<\/a>) could easily have been renamed the \u201chighway funding project\u201d, given its intense focus on road building.<\/p>\n\n

\"Auckland \u00a9 Ethan Hooson \/ Unsplash<\/div>” class=”wp-image-65781″\/>
Auckland morotway traffic
\u00a9 Ethan Hooson \/ Unsplash<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Released yesterday, the plan outlines funding priorities for the next three years. If it comes to fruition, much of the spending will be driven into major highway schemes, and steered away from sustainable transport alternatives for the main cities.<\/p>\n\n

The programme allocates NZ$7 billion for state highway improvements between now and 2027, most of which goes to the newest iteration of the so-called Roads of National Significance (RoNS). On top of this massive highway bill, the programme gives another $1 billion in contingency funding to accelerated planning of the RoNS.<\/p>\n\n

But the total $8 billion price tag doesn\u2019t actually buy new highways. The roads are several years, if not decades, away from becoming a reality. Instead, these funds will be dedicated to extensive planning, design and preparatory work, rather than actual construction.<\/p>\n\n

For many of those road projects, the current NLTP period focuses on route protection, environmental assessments, property acquisition and preliminary designs.<\/p>\n\n

The State Highway 1 Warkworth-to-Wellsford project, for instance, will only begin construction late in this NLTP period. Others, like the East-West Link and State Highway 29 Tauriko West projects, are still in the development and route protection stages.<\/p>\n\n

Even more telling, projects such as the State Highway 16 North-West alternative highway won\u2019t see any construction during this NLTP period. Nor will the State Highway 6 Hope Bypass in Nelson, which won\u2019t break ground until 2029.<\/p>\n\n

Funding the status quo<\/h2>\n\n

The approach effectively commits billions in taxpayer dollars to preparatory work without delivering any tangible infrastructure improvements. New Zealanders will likely find themselves stuck in worsening traffic, waiting for highways that may never materialise.<\/p>\n\n

These projects could easily be sidelined by future budget constraints or changing political priorities<\/a>. A growing recognition of induced demand \u2013 where new roads generate more traffic rather than alleviate congestion \u2013 and the looming challenges of climate change risk these carbon-intensive projects being obsolete before they even begin.<\/p>\n\n

Meanwhile, projects that could address far more severe congestion in the main cities are being cut back or indefinitely postponed.<\/p>\n\n

Transport Minister Simeon Brown\u2019s election promise to prioritise mending potholes \u2013 essentially a rebranding of standard road maintenance \u2013 will also significantly affect transport funding.<\/p>\n\n

In all, a staggering $10.06 billion will be spent maintaining and operating the overbuilt road network, including:<\/p>\n\n