Simon Casey: Remutaka Rd Action Group leader on the idea of a new toll road to the Wairarapa

A new group is calling on the government to investigate a new road between Upper Hutt and the Wairarapa - aiming to do away with the current accident-prone Remutaka Hill Road in favour of a safer toll road. 

The group has investigated four options and estimates a new route could halve the 33-minute journey between Featherston and Upper Hutt. 

The most expensive option would cost $1.4 billion and would involve building through a valley towards a 320m-high tunnel. 

The group's leader Simon Casey joined Nick Mills to discuss the idea. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks' b Right.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
The brains behind this idea is a guy by the
name of Simon Casey, and he's rung the show and
wants to have a chat. Good morning, Simon.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Yeah, Nick, how are you going?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
I'm really excited by your idea. Explain to our listeners
how it can work and what's happened so far.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Yeah. Well, firstly, thanks for your support and putting it
to your listeners, because we really appreciate that. But yeah,
the issue of the Rumattucker Hill, we're believe it's going
to be a significant part of the wire Rapper's future.
We've got two things right. One is that if we
make it easier for people to come over, the economy
of the wire rapper will definitely benefit from that. But

(00:53):
then the other side of it is that you've got
that if a disaster, natural disaster occurred, took the road
out for several months, it would be the complete opposite.
It would devastate the economy of the wire rapper. So
we're we've had nature file warning shots at us before
we had a slip under the hill that closed the road.
Partially for eight weeks, So what will happen if the

(01:14):
guests worse? So that's the other side of it. So
there's just nothing but benefit if we can put an
alternate route through that is comfortable to drive and there's
a lot safer than what the current road is as
you drive over it at the moment you're looking down
the cliffs and although Indy tab tried to make it safer,
it is a bit like putting a lipstick on a peg.

(01:35):
It's still an unsafe road and we've got to change
that if we want a first wheel road system.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Is anyone listening to you? The Transport Association, listen to
your government, listen to your politicians listening mayor's listening to you.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Oh, the mayors definitely are, and the councils are. Anita
Baker of Porua has been fantastic. She's the chair of
the Wellington Regional Meural Forum and she's been talking to
all the councilors who are going to endorse the objective
that we have. So to have that behind us does
give us a lot of credibility. We've got a website
Rimatucker Road dot in z where people can register their support.

(02:10):
We want to prove to the government this community support
for this right around the way to read it, not
just the wire Rappa. And we've had support from other
organizations such as Infrastructure New Zealand and Transporting New Zealand.
They're pretty keen on the idea as well. So we've
got a lot of friends.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
How do you work out that it was going to
cost one point four billion? How did you get your finance?

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yeah, you called me the engineer. Well I'm actually an engineer,
but not the engineer associated with the business case we did.
That was Kevin Kevin Cubby and he's used the formula
that was used a cost per kilometer for transmission gully
and essentially applied it. So it's a pretty broad brush thing,
but it does show that if we had costs of
that magnitude, then can we prove that there are benefits

(02:56):
that would actually make it worth the while? Now just
to get the toll back, as you say, take eighty years,
Well there's more to it than that. There's the whole
productivity improvement of the wire rappa. I mean, wyre rappa
for capita GDP is twenty two percent below the national average.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
We've got to.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Lift that we've got to play our game, and transport
is a major part of lifting the productivity, and so
we want the government to step up and say, yep,
this is significant. We'll include it on the Roads of
National significance, and we will look into what of these
options that we put forward is the best one, or
perhaps is even another one. But the other thing too, though,
is that tunnels. A lot of people like the idea

(03:34):
of tunnels, they are incredibly expensive to do. Any tunnel
over two hundred and fifty meters long is going to
require a bore in both directions, plus safety systems and
all that sort of stuff that really adds to the cost.
And give me a rough.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Idea of the cost of tunneling, just so that I
can get it around my head.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
Actually, I can't really give you the cost coming other
than the option that we gave. But I mean when
you look at the cost of you looking at Mount
Victoria tunnels and all that well are very you know
there'd be a similar distance and yet the cost is
is quite high. Simply, it's not the boring that does
the cost. It's all the safety systems that you have

(04:12):
to put into it to make it viable.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
So have you spoken to actual politicians. Have you got it?
Have you got in front of anyone that can make
a decision.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yes, we have.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
We've got great support from the locally MP's Karen mcthinulty
and Mike Buffett, but we've also spoken to Simmy and Brown,
but of course they played musical chairs with the portfolio.
So we're yet to see if we can arrange a
meeting with Chris Bishop, who's the person we really want
to see now, But we just want to get all
our ducks in a row, prove his support, get the

(04:46):
councils to endorse a letter, and go armed and dangerous.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
What can I ask you, Simon? What Samim Brown had?
What did he say when you showed him your plans?

Speaker 3 (04:58):
Oh, he was somewhat noncommittal. He wanted to find out
more information from his from his officials, and we hadn't
heard anything more back from that, but it certainly got
us some audience with related groups that were interested in
what we were doing. So we're just finding our time.

(05:19):
We want to make sure that when we go and
see it's very hard to get a meeting with a
minister for especially busy minister, so we want to make
sure we have everything we need to before we go
back there.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
But if we.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Don't do this, this is the thing. It's not a
case of the build Ouders is going to be on
the road on the top of the hill anytime soon.
It's going to take quite a while, but just to
get it on the radar is essentially what we're trying
to do. If we don't, it will not get it
looking for at least another thirty years. Now that's too
long to wait. We want to A study would actually

(05:49):
bring some surety, some some tangible outcomes as to what
the true cost would be. I mean, ours is an estimate,
and what the best route would be. And I think
just achieving that will give confidence to people in the
wire rapper that we're not being forgotten about, that our
area is valuable and that we want to grow it

(06:10):
and we want to you know, we want it for
our children and you know, for our residents to enjoy.
And not yet under nighttime curfew that happens so often
when they do roadworks on the road, they close it
between nine pm and four am, and there is no alternates,
just not good enough.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
What do you say to those people in the wire
rapper that actually don't want the rich people from what
it isn't going over there and ruining their area. Because
there's a few people that think, well, actually the hill
stops a lot of people coming over, and we like that.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Well, actually, I believe, I mean, I respect their views
or any do you know. I think a lot of
people don't like change. Whatever it is. If it's not there,
don't put it up. If it is there, don't take
it down. I think that they would. I think they
would see the benefit if we did put a new
route in there. But I do understand their reticence to
tedy thing of change. But what they've got to understand

(07:02):
is that the road as it is at the moment
hurts people far more than anyone else. I know. We've
had a story. We had a story from a midwife
who said that when the weather closes, the helicopter can't
get over and the hill has closed at the same time.
That puts people in danger. Again, not good enough. We

(07:22):
need to change that. And a lot of those people
don't see that side of it.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
And how many people have missed flights because they've gone
to go over and there's been an accident and they
actually held up for a couple of hours. I mean,
it's happened to me. I reckon that I've been over
the wire app at ten times, and I reckon three
times I've been interrupted on my trip back.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Well, this is why we call it a nighttime curfew.
Sort of tongue and cheap, but it is kind of
a curfew where you sort of feel, Okay, I can't
go over the hill because I won't be able to
get back in time, or if I land late from
my flight, I'm going to have to stay in town.
You know that these are sorts of things that no
other wellingtoning has to face. It's just just just really unacceptable.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
So simon give me some timing ideas. I mean, you've
obviously talked to a lot of people. So are we
talking diggers on the road within ten years or are
we talking diggers in the road within twenty years?

Speaker 3 (08:12):
Oh look, my crystal, we'll looking a little bit foggy
at the moment.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
Well, you must have a sort of idea where, you know,
if you're dreaming the dream, which I totally respect you
for and admire you for. So you're dreaming the dream,
when do you think that we could start seeing something
a little bit more tangible and.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Just talk right.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
Well, I would like this year for the government to
agree that a study needs to be undertaken for an
alternate route. If we can do that, that gives us
a lot of hope that we will then end up
on the list. Now we may be well down the list,
but what I feel we need to do is it
has to be a toll road simply because it's just

(08:53):
not going to happen otherwise. And we may get an
investor who could help out.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Could you look at that. Could you look at like
getting a very very wealthy overseas person that would put
the money up and give them the toll for thirty years.
Could that be a possible.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
Hey, if that's the case, give me a call. I'd
be very interesting to hear from you. It's not because
we want to make it happen. We seriously want to
make it happen, and we're looking for all the friends
we can get.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
Well, good luck with it. I just love the idea.
I don't know why, because I like going over to
the wire rapper and a lot of you know, it's
just such a I don't know, it seems like a
food basket for us, for Wellingtonian's just at our doorstep,
but it's always a mountain too far. That's what it
feels like.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
Look and look. We love to have you over there
can and any Wellingtonian who wants to come over. We
want to make it easy for you to come over
because we enjoy your company and you actually help make
the wire wrapper what it is. And I think those
who don't want it don't see that. But the people
you meet, most of the people you meet, I think,
want to see you and want to welcome you.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Well, it's just that you've just developed so much in
the last ten years. Just the talk of putting a
new motorway through the light transmission gully. You imagine if
you went left or right, left, you're gone on Transmission
Gully up State Highway one. Right, you know, you go
down past Upper Heart and through Ah. I can feel it.
I can feel it in my bones. We've got to
make it happen.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Well, certainly, I think we've got our challenge because I
have spoken with MCTA and they've made it pretty clear
that their priority is now State Highway one. So for
this to go any further, we will need government to
say strategically that the wire wrapper is important for productivity
opportunity and I know they're looking at that, and so
we want to show that the government that State Highway

(10:36):
two has that opportunity, it's worth the investment. EDITA tend
to be a little bit more introspective of just transport,
only they don't look at the bigger picture. The government does.
So that's we've got to do our best. With Chris
Bishop Well.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
I'm sure that for him being a local, he'll love
the idea. Good Luck, thank you very much for coming
on the show. Thanks recording in the show. Simon really
good luck. That's Simon Casey. He's the guy, the brains,
the brains behind this idea of taking a motorway from
one side of the room attackers to the other.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
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