Indeed a waste of money

The Dom Post reports:

A waste of time and money is what some are labelling Wellington City Council’s $40,000 review of traffic congestion solutions at the Basin Reserve after it found in favour of a flyover. …

Ms Wade-Brown and transport portfolio leader Andy Foster presented the findings to the Transport Agency board yesterday.

Their study weighed the flyover option (Option A) against proposals from Auckland architect Richard Reid (Option RR) and the Architecture Centre (Option X), both of which had been previously dismissed by the agency as unworkable. Option X sent traffic underground through a cut-and-cover tunnel while Option RR focused on widening and upgrading the existing roads.

A copy of the council’s findings, obtained by The Dominion Post, says the flyover “provides the broadest range of improvements”. Journey times, the reliability of public transport, accessibility, and opportunities to promote cycling and walking would all improve.

Option X and Option RR were found to have little or no improvement in those areas.

Option X had the potential to hurt the traffic flow of surrounding roads, which could be “problematic” if a light rail system was ever introduced.

Option RR was found to have similar outcomes to doing nothing at all.

So what did those Councillors who voted to change their mind achieve? $40,000 of wasted money and an unnecessary delay.