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Published on 14 December 2022
State Highway 2, connects the Wellington Region with the Wairarapa and Hawkes Bay/Gisborne regions. It is also a critical link between cities within the Wellington Region, allowing them to share goods, services, employees, and other resources. For both Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt, SH2 together with SH58 provide the critical link to SH1 and access to the rest of New Zealand. SH2 is therefore critical to the continued wellbeing of Upper Hutt and its community. Feedback on the proposal closed on 12 December. Waka Kotahi will now consider feedback and make adjustments, if and where needed on the plan.
Council is broadly supportive of the intention of the proposed speed reductions of the Interim Speed Management Plan [ISMP] as an interim measure, until such time as SH2 is sufficiently upgraded to meet both the current and future demands of the transport network.
Council is concerned that the ISMP is not considering the impacts on the local road network, the risk of changed behaviours having unintended consequences, and the lack of addressing the serious risks posed to pedestrians and cyclists in using SH2.
Council would like to work further with Waka Kotahi to find long lasting solutions that will provide for a safe, accessible, efficient, sustainable, and resilient transport network in and through Upper Hutt, solutions that encourage multi-modal shift and are viewed in an integrated manner rather than in isolation.
Council supports 4-laning SH2, with a grade separated interchange at Silverstream SH2/Fergusson Drive constructed to align with the development of the replacement Silverstream Bridge.
Council supports the introduction of traffic lights at Moonshine Hill Road as a necessary and life-saving measure until such time as a better intersection design as part of 4-laning SH2 ‘River Road’ can be developed.
Council requests that Waka Kotahi improves the Marchant Road intersection as well as providing advance warning signs, to both cater for future growth and address the safety concerns of the current suboptimal intersection.
Council reluctantly acknowledges the need for an interim speed reduction of 100 km/h to 80 km/h between Te Marua and Kaitoke, until such time as the road is sufficiently upgraded to 4-lanes at a future date, recognising that this section of SH2 has not been appropriately invested in to cater to 100 km/h.
Council requests the inclusion of an interim speed reduction from 80 km/h to 60 km/h along Main Road North (SH2), from Beechwood Lane to the existing Te Marua 80km speed change, until such time as the road is sufficiently upgraded.
Council supports the reduction of speeds at Brown Owl from 70 km/h to 50 km/h as part of the ISMP, accompanied by improvements to the Akatārawa Road intersection to cater for future growth.
Council has concerns over the speed reductions of 100 km/h to 60 km/h in the northbound approach to Moonshine Hill Road, and instead suggests 80 km/h is more appropriate.
Council supports the reduction of the speed limit over Remutaka Hill Road from 100 km/hr, but not to 60 km/h, which Council considers an unacceptable speed limit for this section of road. Council instead suggests the lowest acceptable speed limit should be 80 km/h and accompanied by continued safety improvement interventions.
It is the view of Upper Hutt City Council that the proposed Interim Speed Management Plan does not sufficiently address the longstanding issues associated with decades of underinvestment into SH2, and that planning should commence immediately for permanent solutions to address the continued underinvestment and negligence that has led to the current situation.
View full ISMP submission here