News

New Zealand greenlights $6.2bn transport upgrade in Canterbury

David Rogers
The town of Ashburton, 50km southwest of Christchurch (Andrew Cooper/CC BY 3.0)
New Zealand has approved a 10-year plan to upgrade the transport system in the Canterbury Region, which includes the city of Christchurch.

The programme is expected to cost US$6.2bn, of which $2.6bn will come from central government.

Among the projects approved is a second bridge over the Ashburton River and a bypass for the town of Woodend, about 20km north of Christchurch.

Flooding of the River Rangitata in 2019 damaged roads, rails, farms and the electricity supply.

The region wants to increase road capacity because the population of the Greater Christchurch area is expected to grow by 150,000 over the next 30 years, reaching around 640,000.

Some 12.5 million passenger trips were taken on the regional public transport network in 2023 and this year that’s expected to reach 14 million, according to Environment Canterbury.

Meanwhile, the percentage of people using public transport has grown from 18% to 24%.

  • Subscribe here to get stories about construction around the world in your inbox three times a week.

Further reading:

Topics: /
Story for GCR? Get in touch via email: [email protected]

Comments

  1. I hope the Woodend bypass will be fast tracked. The traffic build on SH1 early morning and when the Woodend traffic lights are activated goes bumper to bumper and locks!

    Colin Warren May 9, 2024 at 21:44

  2. The northern bypass is not going far enough and should gopass the Ashley Bridge with a new Bridge as well

    Stephen ryder May 9, 2024 at 22:04

  3. Further to my earlier comment, on some busy morning around 7 traffic can back up into Pegasus.

    Colin Warren May 9, 2024 at 22:04

  4. I would like to see some of that government funding distributed further south as Timaru is a bottle neck town on highway 1 to drive through with yo yo and stunted passing lanes it needs yo be opened up to 2 lanes right through or a truck by pass lane to avoid impatient pile ups and people taking risks overtaking.
    There are also barely any passing lanes south of Timaru between Paereora and Glenavy or south of Ashburton traveling north.
    I very narrowly escaped a head on collision a month ago just north of Temuka as a small truck nearly took out my son and I m
    We were so shaken we had to pull over and recover

    Helen Read May 10, 2024 at 19:41

Comments are closed.

Latest articles in News