Northlanders want the expressway

Newshub reports:

Northland locals are desperate for a four lane expressway connecting Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, and Tauranga which The National Party on Friday promised to build if elected. …

In the congested, wet, and windy roads of the north, traffic can be backed up for kilometres upon kilometres. 

“It’s shit,” one Kaitaia resident told Newshub. “It’s absolutely shit.”

Cue The National Party. New leader Judith Collins announced its new transport package on Friday – planning to build a four-lane expressway starting in Whangarei, shooting down through Auckland and Hamilton, and ending in Tauranga.

The windy Kaimai ranges would be replaced by a tunnel, so too the Brynderwyns north of Auckland

“And, yes, for those tunnels, you will pay a small toll for a car, or a more sizable one for a commercial vehicle,” Collins said.

In return, it would create jobs and bring more people and goods into the area.

Locals say the most important part for the north is that it’s safer. The area makes up for just three per cent of the country’s population but for 12 percent of the roading  fatalities. 

Locals believe the expressway would save lives and the winterless north’s economy.

The expressway is hugely popular in Northland, and for good reason when you look at the road toll there and the congestion.

Shane Jones has delivered some art toilets and a lot of rhetoric over the port. Labour are against the expressway so NZ First will never be able to deliver it – only National can.