Govt must commit to urgent action over killer high

new-zealand-national-party

Tue Aug 14 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Govt must commit to urgent action over killer high

Tuesday, 14 August 2007, 1:02 pm
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

Dr Paul Hutchison
National Party MP for Port Waikato

14 August 2007

Govt must commit to urgent action over killer highway

National MP Paul Hutchison is calling on the Government to pull its head out of the sand and commit to a plan to four-lane the state highway between Pokeno and Thames.

“Yesterday’s serious bus crash involving three vehicles would almost certainly have been prevented if the road was four-laned.

“Over the past few years, this killer highway has claimed 40 lives and has been the site of countless serious accidents.

“The road has been described by locals as a ‘gauntlet of death’, yet Labour continues to ignore their pleas to upgrade it.”

Dr Hutchison says despite numerous letters to Transit, successive Labour Ministers of Transport and a petition by local people to Parliament, the Labour Government has failed to ensure New Zealand’s most dangerous state highway is made safer.

“This is a Third World road in the new millennium. It is an unacceptable disgrace.

“The least the Government can do is commit to a four-lane highway between Pokeno and Thames.

“All the Labour Government has done is a series of patch-up jobs on the road. The area around Maramarua won’t be done for 15 years and the major portion of the highway has no commitment plan.

“This work must be fast-tracked or there will be more preventable deaths.”

ENDS

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