Graves v homes

The Dom Post reports:

The preferred route of the Kapiti expressway has this morning been announced by the NZTA, and will cut through sacred Maori land in Waikanae.

The route will follow the western option through Waikanae, affecting 16 properties, and cutting through waahi tapu land, which includes an urupa (burial ground).

The eastern option would have affected 29 properties, and central regional director Jenny Chetwynd said both options had been carefully considered.

Graveyards and burial grounds should generally be worked around where possible, but of course we wouldn’t have the Wellington Motorway if it hadn’t gone through the Bolton Street cemetery.

In this case it seems to be a choice between an extra 13 properties or a burial ground, and I think minimising disruption to the living takes precedence over the dead.