NZ Autocar
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Electric
  • Industry
  • Bikes
  • Classics
  • Motorsport
  • Prices
    • New Bike Prices
    • New Car Prices
    • Make
      • Alfa Romeo News and Reviews
      • Aston Martin News and Reviews
      • Audi News and Reviews
      • Bentley News and Reviews
      • BMW News and Reviews
      • BYD News and Reviews
      • Chevrolet News and Reviews
      • Citroen News and Reviews
      • Cupra News and Reviews
      • Ferrari News and Reviews
      • Fiat News and Reviews
      • Ford News and Reviews
      • GWM News and Reviews
      • Haval News and Reviews
      • Honda News and Reviews
      • Hyundai News and Reviews
      • INEOS News and Reviews
      • Isuzu News and Reviews
      • Jaguar News and Reviews
      • Jeep News and Reviews
      • KIA News and Reviews
      • Lamborghini News and Reviews
      • Land Rover News and Reviews
      • LDV News and Reviews
      • Lexus News and Reviews
      • Lotus News and Reviews
      • Mahindra News and Reviews
      • Maserati News and Reviews
      • Mazda News and Reviews
      • McLaren News and Reviews
      • Mercedes-Benz News and Reviews
      • MG News and Reviews
      • MINI News and Reviews
      • Mistubishi News and Reviews
      • Nissan News and Reviews
      • Omoda News and Reviews
      • Opel News and Reviews
      • Peugeot News and Reviews
      • Polestar News and Reviews
      • Porsche News and Reviews
      • RAM News and Reviews
      • Renault News and Reviews
      • Skoda News and Reviews
      • SsangYong News and Reviews
      • Subaru News and Reviews
      • Suzuki News and Reviews
      • Tesla News and Reviews
      • Toyota News and Reviews
      • Volkswagen News and Reviews
      • Volvo News and Reviews
  • Subscribe
    • Print
    • Digital
  • Contact us
    • Contact us
    • Advertise
NZ Autocar
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Opinion: Bridges for sale

Words: Arnold Difflock

by Tom Gasnier
April 11, 2022

And I don’t mean Simon Bridges. We are currently governed by a pretty unique collection of politicians and I mean that in the kindest possible way. They are full of grandiose ideas about where to spend billions of dollars we haven’t got, yet none of their ideas seem to come to pass.

Take the madcap proposal to hang a bike track under the clip-on lanes of the Auckland Harbour Bridge. That one predictably went nowhere (but not before they compulsorily bought five Northcote houses to make room for the off-ramp) because there was no way that the engineers could figure out a way to make it structurally safe.

That ludicrous proposal was replaced by one that was even more ridiculous – a free-standing cycle bridge across the harbour, costing upwards of $800 million. Several million had already been wasted on design and consultation work before this was rightly scrapped.

Then there is the slow tram to the airport which remains anchored at the debate stage before they have even worked out what route it’s going to take or how much of it will be underground. This has been on the agenda for five years, absolutely nothing has happened and that’s the way it should stay. Now is not the time to be throwing money at nineteenth century transport technology in response to the 21st century reality that city centres are shrivelling as commerce decentralises. The cost of such a system doesn’t bear thinking about.

This is a Government that couldn’t even get Transmission Gully finished when it was consented and started by the previous National Government, then handed to them on a plate three quarters complete four and a half years ago, whereupon it all started to grind to a halt. Hopefully by the time you’re reading this we will know when it will open, but it will already be two years behind schedule.

And now we come to the mother of all pie-in-the-sky ideas. It’s the NZ Transport Agency’s ‘Road to Zero’ vision. Brainchild of former associate Transport Minister Julie-Anne Genter, it is a dreamland in which we will have zero road deaths or serious injuries by the year 2050.

Not only do they actually believe that this is possible, but they’ve embarked on a TV campaign in a vain attempt to convince the rest of us.

Now I’m all for reducing death and injury on the roads, but let’s put this in perspective. Even if we manage to reduce road deaths by 10 per cent every single year, starting now, the toll in 2050 will be down to 15. That’s clearly impossible, as even if we slow traffic to a crawl (something that’s clearly on the agenda), there’s always going to be the odd drunk who steps in front of a slow moving bus, a carload of delinquents trying to outrun the police, or another head-on crash arising from the failure of our primitive two-lane highway system. Getting the road toll down from the current 320 or so to zero is so far-fetched it’s laughable, and that’s without even mentioning motorcycles.

There’s risk in every human activity, take swimming for instance. Since swimming pools were eradicated from schools, kids couldn’t learn how to swim and as a result there are record drownings every summer. And what about the building industry? Despite the imposition of draconian safety measures, construction workers keep knocking themselves off at a rapid rate.

Why are motorists the only ones expected to achieve a zero death rate by 2050? We await a political decision as to how to build a bridge over these troubled waters. No doubt it will be expensive.  

Previous Post

Evans conquers Rome

Next Post

Evans does it again, claims back-to-back wins in Rome

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Free NZ Autocar Enewsletter
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
NZ Autocar is New Zealand’s leading automotive magazine. Delivering news reviews from the automotive world, including commentary from leading automotive writers and covers the scope of motoring including new cars, classic cars, EVs and motorbikes.

Our team

Publisher: Mark Petch
General Manager: Gavin Shaw
Editor: Kyle Cassidy
Senior Editor: Peter Louisson
News Editor: Harrison Wade
Art Director: Alex Schultz
Photographer: Isaac Western

To Subscribe

nzautocar.subscription.co.nz

Contact Us

Advertising:
Gavin Shaw
[email protected]
.
Editorial:
Kyle Cassidy
[email protected]
.
NZ Autocar
PO Box 44 304
Point Chevalier
Auckland 1246
New Zealand

Categories

Useful Links

Home
News
Motorsport
New Car Prices
New Bike Prices
Subscriptions
Competitions
Contact Us
Advertising
Terms and Conditions

© 2021 AUTOCAR 2016 LIMITED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Electric
  • Industry
  • Bikes
  • Classics
  • Motorsport
  • Prices
    • New Bike Prices
    • New Car Prices
    • Make
      • Alfa Romeo News and Reviews
      • Aston Martin News and Reviews
      • Audi News and Reviews
      • Bentley News and Reviews
      • BMW News and Reviews
      • BYD News and Reviews
      • Chevrolet News and Reviews
      • Citroen News and Reviews
      • Cupra News and Reviews
      • Ferrari News and Reviews
      • Fiat News and Reviews
      • Ford News and Reviews
      • GWM News and Reviews
      • Haval News and Reviews
      • Honda News and Reviews
      • Hyundai News and Reviews
      • INEOS News and Reviews
      • Isuzu News and Reviews
      • Jaguar News and Reviews
      • Jeep News and Reviews
      • KIA News and Reviews
      • Lamborghini News and Reviews
      • Land Rover News and Reviews
      • LDV News and Reviews
      • Lexus News and Reviews
      • Lotus News and Reviews
      • Mahindra News and Reviews
      • Maserati News and Reviews
      • Mazda News and Reviews
      • McLaren News and Reviews
      • Mercedes-Benz News and Reviews
      • MG News and Reviews
      • MINI News and Reviews
      • Mistubishi News and Reviews
      • Nissan News and Reviews
      • Omoda News and Reviews
      • Opel News and Reviews
      • Peugeot News and Reviews
      • Polestar News and Reviews
      • Porsche News and Reviews
      • RAM News and Reviews
      • Renault News and Reviews
      • Skoda News and Reviews
      • SsangYong News and Reviews
      • Subaru News and Reviews
      • Suzuki News and Reviews
      • Tesla News and Reviews
      • Toyota News and Reviews
      • Volkswagen News and Reviews
      • Volvo News and Reviews
  • Subscribe
    • Print
    • Digital
  • Contact us
    • Contact us
    • Advertise

© 2021 AUTOCAR 2016 LIMITED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.