He outlined the immediate steps being taken starting the work around property purchases, setting up a team to ensure they understand the project scope, and all the necessary preparations to then procure someone to construct it.
More detail around the exact timeframes will be announced in early September when the National Land Transport Program is confirmed by the New Zealand Transport Agency board.
“The agency is already getting underway with the preliminary work so that we can move as quickly as possible.”
Brown criticised the previous government for neglecting essential preparatory work.
“The reality is, for the last six years, the last government wasn’t doing the design work, the designations, the consenting, or the property purchase for these major roading projects, including the Woodend Bypass.
We’re getting that back on track so we can get all of these roads under construction over the next three years,” he said.
When asked about the number of speed bumps being constructed across Christchurch, Brown had a message for council transport planners.
“There’s no funding for speed bumps on our roads. And what I would say to those Council transport planners is that they are not elected, and the councillors and the and the government are – and we have changed priorities based on what the public voted for at the last election, and we’re delivering on the agenda that the public voted for us, which is focus on back to basics, fixing the potholes, repairing the roads, resealing them, and building the new infrastructure that New Zealanders need, and not just simply slowing people down and making it more inconvenient to get around.”
