A long tunnel for Wellington?

Stuff reports:

A “long tunnel” between the Terrace Tunnel and Kilbirnie would be the best way to reduce Wellington’s traffic congestion and open up land for development, according to a report commissioned by Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM).

The long tunnel is part of four transport network optionsbeing considered by LGWM, the $6.4 billion transport and urban development programme focused on the area between Wellington Airport and the Ngauranga Gorge.

The Property Group, a consultancy firm, proposed a “long tunnel” – through Newtown, Mt Cook, and Te Aro – saying it would open up the most new space for housing and urban development. It would give the potential for more than 39,000 new dwellings and almost 1.3 million square-metres of commercial floor space.

The concept is good. Ideally you don’t want SH1 to be intersecting with other traffic and a tunnel would massively reduce congestion.

However the cost would be many billions of dollars and it is unlikely there would be a positive benefit to cost ratio. However it would be good to have a business case done for it.

Of course the BCR for light rail in Wellington is a miniscule 0.05 so anything better than 0.05 would be an improvement on the current plans!