The long-term future of the slip-plagued Manawatu Gorge finally took another step tonight, after the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) revealed its longlist of alternatives.
They were presented at a public meeting in Palmerston North, but not all have been well received.
"It's very easy to spend millions of dollars. Who wants to do all that? We still haven't got our gorge!" one resident told Newshub.
- Another huge slip falls in Manawatu Gorge
- Labour announce plan to fix Manawatu Gorge
- Manawatu Gorge: Frustrated residents find an ally in Winston Peters
State Highway 3 through the Manawatu Gorge has been closed since April - its third major slip in six years. Short term alternatives are struggling to cope with the strain of heavy vehicles, and towns are experience either too much traffic, or not enough to keep their businesses afloat.
"Our main goal is getting a resilient corridor that'll be open all the time to enable traffic to go across it and also enable the communities on either side," NZTA regional transport systems manager Ross I'Anson told Newshub.
NZTA is proposing 13 new options, including tunnels, viaducts, raising the current road, and new roads which bypass the gorge entirely.
"This is an opportunity for them to see our starting point, our big long list of options saying, 'Hey, we've listened to your feedback, we've incorporated your feedback, we're starting this process in earnest'," Mr l'Anson said.
The public can use an interactive map on NZTA's website to see where the different routes will go - and add their thoughts.
"People will be able to go online, drop a virtual pin on a point on the map and say, 'Is there an area of significance here', or do they like this corridor, or, 'What's the problem with the corridor'," Mr I'Anson said.
But many residents are frustrated NZTA is asking them what to do.
"There are people on both sides of the ranges that are suffering financially every day, and to stand up there tonight and say, 'What suggestions to you have?' Wow," resident Ian Flyger told Newshub.
Others wish they'd been consulted earlier. One route goes through Malcolm Pratt's quarry and he says he only just found out about it on Friday.
"It bloody well won't be going there without being compensated mate. You wouldn't like to take 14 or 15 people's jobs away and not be compensated," he told Newshub.
A shortlist including cost estimates will be presented to the public next month, before NZTA decides on the best option for an alternative route in December.
Newshub.
