Residents of a rural settlement north of Wellington are stunned by a proposal to build a road through the hill country area.
The Transport Agency plan is part of the Petone to Grenada Link Road project, aimed at addressing what it calls severe traffic congestion and improving travel between the Hutt Valley and Porirua.
Steve Mulholland on his Takapu Valley property. Photo: RNZ
The agency is considering two options, one of which is to build an entirely new route through the Takapu Valley, potentially affecting about 80 property owners.
Steve Mulholland and his partner Tamara Duran have lived for a decade on their 10-hectare farm where they run sheep and breed alpaca and lama.
Mr Mulholland said the road would bisect the property, rendering it "pretty much useless" and destroy their small business. "It would go through our three best paddocks and turn them into asphalt."
Richard Brown, who has lived in the valley for 14 years, said the road would cut through the middle of his property and destroy the rural community and developed farmland.
Mr Brown and other residents say they'll fight the plan all the way if it gets the official go-ahead. Residents say a better option would be to widen State Highway 1.
The Transport Agency says plans are still at a very early stage and no decisions have yet been made.
Wellington highways manager Rod James told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report programme residents' concerns will need to be taken into account as the plans progress.
"There's no firm plans that we are going to build a road through Takapu Valley, there are other options, and we really need to talk to all the affected people and get the issues into our thinking so that we can start to narrow down further and decide where, if a link is going to be built through there, where it would best be built."
