Western Link
IMPORTANT NOTICE
The Council has for many years been working towards the construction of the Western Link, a 2 lane local road running from Raumati South to north of Waikanae. All legal consents have been obtained, design is well advanced and construction was proposed to start in mid to late 2010.
In December 2009 the New Zealand Transport Agency decided that they wished to use the alignment of the Western Link for the proposed Sandhills Expressway, a 4-lane motorway standard road, part of the governments Wellington to Levin Road of National Significance (as signalled).
This decision means that the Western Link is on hold. The Kāpiti Coast District Council is working with NZTA with the objective of securing appropriate quality of design and mitigation of effects from the Expressway.
Further information on the Expressway can be found on the NZTA web site at www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/kapiti-project .
For historic information and reference purposes information relating to the Western Link is set out below and also on the project web site at http://www.westernlink.co.nz/.
Historic Information - General
The Western Link, as proposed by Council, will be a local road between Poplar Avenue in Raumati to North Waikanae, providing a local alternative to the State
Highway for north-south travel in the district. It will connect with every road it crosses on its route and be 50km/h in the urban areas and 70km/h in the rural areas.
The Council has developed an alternative concept for the design of the Western Link. This takes the approach of setting the road within the landscape rather than re-creating landscape around the road. The result is a suggested alignment which attempts to traverse around dune forms rather than cut through them by using curves and slopes. Being a concept, rather than a design, more work needs to be carried out in order to determine what can be incorporated into the final design.
Consistent with earlier work, a high standard of landscape treatment and provision of cycleways, walkways and bridleways is included.
The Executive Summary of the Scheme Assessment Report for Stage 1 can be found here.
Detailed documentation including the full Scheme Assessment Report, Design Philosophy Statement and the Urban Design Report is available for viewing at the Council offices. Very large file sizes prevent these documents from being included here.
Additional Information
The downloads below provide general information on the project:
- Western Link FAQs (PDF, 5 pages, 39Kb)
- Western Link Map with Alternative Alignments (JPG, 1 page, 149Kb)
- Western Link Alignment on Google Earth (KMZ, 3.8meg) - Note, Google Earth must be installed on your computer to use this file.
- Western Link Designation Conditions - Summary (PDF, 1 page, 206Kb)
- Western Link Designation Conditions - Details (PDF, 15 pages, 116Kb)
- Western Link Resource Consents - Summary (PDF, 1 page, 782Kb)
Intersection designs
The links below open files which show concept designs for each intersection. Further drawings will be posted as they become available.
- Kapiti Road to Mazengarb Road (PDF, 1 page, 506Kb)
- Raumati Intersection (JPG, 1 page, 4.2Mb)
- Ihakara Intersection (JPG, 1 page, 1Mb)
- Kapiti Road Intersection (JPG, 1 page, 1.3Mb)
- Mazengarb Intersection (JPG, 1 page, 2.8Mb)
- Otaihanga Intersection (JPG, 1 page, 3.2Mb)
- Te Moana Intersection (JPG, 1 page, 2.7Mb)
Designation
Hearings for the designation for the Western Link Road were held in 1998, with the Hearing Commissioners confirming the designation. This was appealed, and despite several subsequent hearings, the legal process continues.
The most recent hearing on appeals against the Western Link Road designation was held in the High Court on 27-29 September, 2004. The decision of the Court was issued on 26 October 2004 and found in favour of the Council, dismissing all the points of appeal.
Determination of the Environment Court - July 2006
- High Court Decision - October 2004 (PDF, 54 pages, 252kb)
- Environment Court Decision - July 2003 (PDF, 36 pages, 4,558kb)
- High Court Decision - April 2003 (PDF, 43 pages, 4,249kb)
- Environment Court Decision - July 2002 Environment Court decision (PDF, 47 pages, 8,458kb)
The Commissioner's decision dated 4 July / 15 September 1998 is a 200 page document which is available for inspection, upon prior request, at the Council's offices.
Other Work in Progress
Other Arterials
The Western Link is only one part of the required roading network. A number of other roads need to be extended, upgraded or constructed to form a network grid with main roads, one kilometre apart. This work is ongoing while subdivisions occur and roading connections are made.
The following notional roads will be considered for construction at some stage in the future:
- Waterfall Rd
- Tui Rd Bridge
- Kiwi/Milne
- McKays/Paekakariki
- Rata/Ihakara
- Ihakara St Extn
- Guildford Dr/Mazengarb
- The Drive/Makora
- Martin Rd/Guildford Link
- Weggery/Makora Bridge
- Ventnor Extn/Awatea
- Awatea/Mazengarb
- Huia St/Octavius (Hadfield)
- Peka Peka/Te Hapua
- Hadfield/Settlement
- Settlement/SH 1.