Chris Bishop: Transport Minister on the South Auckland Mill Road project getting an additional funding boost

The wheels are in motion for South Auckland's Mill Road project.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop has announced $91.1 million has been approved for completing design and consent work on the Manukau to Alfriston sections.

It includes a four-lane general traffic corridor, with a westbound bus lane at the northern end.

Bishop says the road will be tolled - allowing the road users to help pay the cost of the road.

"All the new Roads of National Significance that we want to build around the country - we said, as a starting point, they will be tolled, because that's a way of bringing forward the investment."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
From one set a good news to a whole bunch
of more good news. The Mill Road upgrade in South
Auckland is one step closer to actually happening. What's happened
here is that the NZTA Board has approved about ninety
one million dollars and that money is going to be
used to complete the design and then secure consents for
stage one of the upgrade. Now, this road is the
one that one of the ones that Grant Robertson famously
promised and then famously cut. Chris Bishop is currently the

(00:22):
Minister of Transport Bush.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Hello, So you guys going to toll this?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Are you? We will told it. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Look, all of the new roads of natural significance we
want to build around the country, we've said as a
starting point, they will be told. And that's because it's
a way of bringing forward the investment and allowing the
users who use the road to help pay for the
cost of the road.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yeah, I mean, can I can see that that makes
complete sense if you're actually building a new road. But
you're not building a new road here, right, You're just
upgrading an existing road. Do you think you're going to
get the backs up of people who currently use this road.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Mill Road will be a largely four lane offline new
road once it's built in its entirety, it will be
a twenty one and a half kilometer new road from
Menikau to Drury and the existing Mill Road will become
a local road administered by the Auckland Council. So you
know Mill Road at the moment, anyone who's putting mill
know we're going to have two mil roads? Well yeah,

(01:17):
I mean yes, when we people talk about the Mill
Road road, it is essentially a new four lane offline
highway connecting Manacaw and Drewy in its entirety. That the
first stage that the Board has approved the investment case
for is about six and a half seven kilometers and
that's what they're getting on with now. And then obviously
stages two and three are a bit further away, and

(01:38):
there's a whole bunch of design work and consenting and
designations to go through around that.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, we've been talking about this now for a fair bit.
When are you guys actually going to start?

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Hoping to start construction mid to late twenty twenty six.
Stage one has had designations in place since I think
it goes all the way back to twenty nineteen, actually
even twenty sixteen.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
So talked about for a long time.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
A lot of work's been done on stage one, got
the designations in place. They'll get on with consenting, you know,
later in this year, and then it will almost certainly
use the fast track approvals at regime for the consenting
and then hoping to start construction late next year. We're
getting on with the detailed consenting and design work right now.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
So it's good progress.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
You know, we're not there yet, you know, these things
go on stages, but it's good progress.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Thrilled.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Now, listen, if you caught up on this High Court decision,
re yourselves.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
In movement, what the judicial review of the speed limit changes.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
So these guys are the ones who tried to stop
you guys from lifting the speed limits back up. They
took it to the High Court and they've just been
basically had the thing tossed out, haven't they.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, so they took an interim well they applied for
an interim ruling to essentially try and stop us, and
that they are understanding is they lost in the High Court,
but there's a full hearing later in the year.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
I think, yeah, okay, well, what does this initial hearing,
then mean.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
It means that the speed limit changes are going ahead.
I see.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Sorry, So there is the substantive hearing later in the year,
but in the meantime they were trying to stop you,
and now they've basically they can't stop you. So you're
just going to go full speed ahead. Well, you just
got to get a whole bunch done before the next hearing.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
Right, Well, yeah, I mean they sought what's called on
as I understand it, they thought what's called an interim injunction,
which would essentially have been a stay on us going
ahead with the speed limit changes, and the councils too,
by the way, because it's both state highways and the
council controlled.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Roads as well.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
And there's a there's a substantive hearing later in the year,
and you know they'll play outs that don't want to
comment on that. But you know, obviously they lost in
the interim hearing.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
I mean, you must be feeling pretty stoked that they lost,
right this, This this obviously sets the scene for you
to just win when the next one.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
I would have thought, well, look, our position is that
we you know, it was actually some me and Brown
who did it, But now it's a government move. You know,
we changed the setting of speed limit rule, which is
one of these technical rules that you know applies to
both ENTERTA in terms of state highways and also councils
as road controlling authoritais. We went through a very proper

(04:01):
process to change it. There was consultation, there was a
proper process through the cabinet process.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
And yeah, when we stand by what we did, and
we stand by.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
The decisions to reverse Labour's blankets speed limit reductions.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
And you know it's going down really well around the country.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
You know, you just think about that section of State
Highway too over in the wire wrapper, you know, Featherston
to Carleton to Masters and it went down to eighty
k it's basically flat road. You know, that's gone back
up to one hundred and a whole bunch around the
country that have gone back up.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
And you know, I don't think it's been very popular. Brilliant.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Hey, listen, Bish, thanks very much for talking to us.
Appreciate There's Chris Bishop, the Minister of Transport. For more
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