New Zealand Upgrade Programme
On 29 January 2020, the New Zealand Upgrade Programme was announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. The programme is a $12 billion infrastructure package to improve roads, rail, hospitals and schools around the country, of which $8 billion has been allocated and the other $4 billion is part of the infrastructure section of the 2020 budget. Contents Transport The government has allocated $6.8 billion into transport: $5.3 billion on roads and $1.1 billion on rail. Auckland will receive $3.48 billion of the transport funding. Roads Seven highway projects in the North Island will cost $4.63 billion and are to be built over the next five to eight years. Some of them were formerly 'Roads of National Significance'. Auckland will receive $2.2 billion to be put towards roads, which mayor Phil Goff says will be put toward the $1.3 billion Mill Road highway, set to begin construction in late 2022, and the $411 million Penlink toll road between Whangaparaoa Peninsula and State Highway 1, set to start in late 2021 and be complete by 2025. State Highway 1 between Papakura and Drury South would also be widened from four to six lanes. Wellington will receive $1.35 billion, including funding for the $258 million Melling interchange which will start construction in late 2022 and is expected to be completed by 2026, as well as $59 million going towards the improvement of State Highway 58 between Hutt Valley and Porirua. A new four-lane highway would be built from Ōtaki to north of Levin, bypassing the existing two-lane State Highway 1; this project will cost $817 million and start construction in 2025 with an estimated completion date of 2029. $991 million will be spent in Waikato and the Bay of Plenty, including constructing the Tauranga Northern Link, widening State Highway 2 from Te Puna to Omokoroa to four lanes, and a roundabout at the SH 1/SH 29 intersection at Piarere. The Tautanga Northern Link will connect State Highway 29 to State Highway 2 at Te Puna, will cost $478 million and start construction in late 2020, set to be completed by 2025. $692 million will be spent in Northland on a four-lane highway from Marsden Point to Whangarei. In the South Island, Canterbury will receive $159 million mainly for highway safety projects, while Queenstown will receive $90 million to improve public transport into the town centre. Footpaths and cycleways Auckland will put $360 million of its $3.48 billion towards its first walking and cycling path across the Waitemata Harbour as a shared path over the Harbour Bridge known as SkyPath, providing one of the "critical links" in completing the city's walking and cycling network. Rail Three rail projects in Auckland will be funded: $371 million towards extending electrification of Auckland's rail network from Papakura to Pukekohe, $247 million to develop the Drury railway station with two new stations at Drury East and Drury West, and $315 million to build an additional rail line between Wiri and Westfield in South Auckland; the third main line