John MacDonald: Don't treat the South Island like a road to nowhere (1)

If you’re driving on State Highway One south of Christchurch anytime soon, be aware that it's as good as it's going to get.  I remember someone telling me once that they were driving that piece of road with a person visiting from overseas who asked my friend why they weren’t taking the main highway. And my friend had to say that they were actually on the main highway.   I also remember last election and then-National Party leader Todd Muller announcing that, if he led the next Government, a new highway between Christchurch and Ashburton would be a goer.  We know how things went for Todd Muller shortly after that. National didn’t get into Government. And the idea of a new highway went nowhere.  So here we are three years later,  in another election year and National seems to have lost its enthusiasm for a new four-lane highway connecting Christchurch and Ashburton.  It’s released its new transport policy and it seems to have plenty of new roads planned for up north. The only thing it’s talking about in Canterbury is a by-pass for Woodend, which its local MP Matt Doocey has been championing for years. It’s making noises too about building a new bridge across the Ashburton River.  Which no-one could argue isn’t desperately needed. We saw again the other weekend, didn’t we, how much of a weak link that bridge is. With it being closed overnight after that big storm caused a whole lot of debris to gather near the bridge and so they closed it as a precaution.  I was travelling back from Dunedin and got through just in time. And I don’t know whether it was just the amount of rain or the fact that we have such a second-rate road on that stretch of State Highway One - but I thought the road itself needed to be closed too after going through all the surface flooding.  Either way, I think the way that road has been neglected - or the way we have been neglected by all political parties when it comes to that road - is appalling.  Because, if National thought it needed sorting three years ago, the need will only be greater now with 36 more months of cars and trucks and buses pounding it every day.  But it hasn’t made the cut. Not with National, anyway. And I don’t think we should be holding our breath for Labour to come up with anything better.  Because it’s had nearly six years to do something. And it hasn’t. So are we just imagining how bad it actually is? And are we in la-la land thinking that a new highway is way overdue?  I don’t think I am imagining how bad it is. And I don’t think I am in la-la-land thinking something has to be done about it.  Part of the problem is the way some drivers use that bit of road. You know the ones I’m talking about. Despite the number of passing lanes, you still get the ones who can’t possibly wait and swing out into the opposite lane whenever they want to. It’s never a need. It’s always a want.  The fact that there are so many passing lanes says a lot about the suitability of that road for the number of vehicles that are used on it. I reckon anyway.  And then, if something happens, the hold-ups can be quite staggering. I remember one day last year we were heading south and traffic was at a complete standstill. For kilometres. I actually had never seen State Highway One at a standstill like that for so long.  Eventually, we got moving and saw that it was because a crash had involved a power pole and the crews were there sorting it out. So the crash, itself, had been cleared away. But getting the power pole sorted out meant traffic going nowhere. Because you’ve only got two lanes to play with - so not much wiggle room.  Another thing too, is that goat track between Christchurch and Ashburton - in fact the whole length of State Highway One to Dunedin - is a vital trade link.  The Port of Otago and the Port of Timaru - alot of stuff goes through those ports and needs transporting around the South Island and beyond. So it just doesn’t make sense to me that with all this focus on lifting productivity and all that, why better roading south of Christchurch isn’t a priority.  And this isn’t a beat-up on National, by the way. This is a beat-up on all political parties who seem to think that a few passing lanes here and there is all we need.   Because it’s not.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.