Start date at last for Rimutaka upgrade

BY TANYA KATTERNS

A long fight for a safety upgrade on the Rimutaka Hill Road has paid off, with a multimillion-dollar improvement programme signed off and work set to begin.

The $16.5 million financial injection provided by the Government's Jobs and Growth plan has allowed preliminary work on the hill to start 30 months ahead of schedule.

Earthworks will begin at the end of the month, with the project to realign the notorious Muldoon's Corner on the Wellington side of the summit set to take three years.

The breakthrough comes just five years after Wellington region mayors took a protest to Parliament when the hill road upgrade was bumped off a list of funding priorities.

When construction was in full swing, up to 80 people would be employed, Transport Minister Steven Joyce said. "The work will come as a relief to those who travel the dangerous Rimutaka Hill Road.

"The project will improve safety on a very difficult section of road, where at present heavy vehicles travelling in opposite directions are unable to pass each other."

The upgrade will ease several tight curves, including Muldoon's Corner, about 500 metres south of the summit.

The route was the only practical road link to the Wairarapa from Wellington and was vital for tourism and freight, Mr Joyce said.

News of the project's promotion up the list of priorities has been welcomed by Wairarapa leaders, who have fought for more than a decade for improvements.

South Wairarapa Mayor Adrienne Staples said the work on Muldoon's Corner was the first step toward a 55kmh average speed for motorists travelling the route.

"That stretch of the road has always been of most concern because of how narrow it is ... it is going to make a big difference, but we want to keep the momentum going.

"We are going to keep pushing for continued upgrades and it might be just a whole bunch of small works but it ends up adding to that safety improvement issue."

Though there is no official documentation as to how the name of the notorious corner came about, it was believed to have been given the name in the 1970s when Sir Robert Muldoon was in power, a Land Transport Agency spokeswoman said.

"It is said that, back in the 70s, when Sir Robert was prime minister, the sharpest and tightest corner on the hill road was given that name after one of his famous Budgets was so tight."

- © Fairfax NZ News