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A22 > PUZZLES C21-22 > iDOM A17 > EDITORIAL C4 > TELEVISION B8 > WORLD B1 > SPORT D8WEATHER IT’S A CRACKER BUT BECOMES INCLEMENT TONIGHT.FOR MORE CLEMENT NEWS, SEE JEMAINE ON PAGE C2

Shelved The Basin Reserve flyover is officiallya $12m dead duck. Plus four moreprojects go into the too-hard basket

Motorists will continue to fume as the Transport Agency starts from scratch on how to ease traffic woesMICHAEL FORBES

The issues are stillthere, the congestionhasn’t gone away, so it’sabout going back to thecommunity and taking afresh approach.Jenny Chetwynd,Transport Agency acting chief executive

1. SECOND MT VIC TUNNEL 2. WIDEN RUAHINE ST/WELLINGTON RD 3. BUS RAPID TRANSIT NETWORK 4. NEW BASIN RESERVE PAVILION

THE Basin Reserve flyover projectis officially dead, leaving taxpay-ers $12 million out of pocket andsome of Wellington’s major infra-structure projects facing an uncer-tain future.

The New Zealand TransportAgency finally waved the whiteflag yesterday, consigning itsplans for a $90m, two-lane bridge20 metres north of the Basin Res-erve to the scrap heap for good.

It now intends to go back tosquare one and work with the Wel-lington community, and itscouncils, on a new solution to therush-hour congestion that plaguesthe Basin roundabout daily.

Completely revisiting the prob-lem means other planned roadingprojects that were intended to linkwith the flyover will also have tobe re-examined.

Those projects include a secondtwo-lane tunnel through Mt Vic-toria and the widening of SH1

towards Wellington Airport, ex-pected to cost about $375m.

The capital’s proposed newhigh-capacity bus network be-tween the CBD and southernsuburbs, which could cost up to$173m, also needs a solution at theBasin.

The death of the flyover alsospells the end of the proposed12-metre-high pavilion the agencywas going to build at the northernend of the cricket ground to blockthe highway from view.

The $90m of funding earmarkedfor the flyover will go back intothe Government’s National LandTransport Fund to potentially bespent on transport infrastructureelsewhere.

Taxpayers have little to showfor the $12.3m the flyover hasalready cost the Transport Agencyover the years.

Planning for the flyover datesback as far as 2001. The agency hasfaced a torrid 14 years since,battling community opposition

groups and struggling to get Wel-lington City Council on boardwith the idea.

The level of community oppo-sition was so fierce that it tookfour months for an independentboard of inquiry to hear theagency’s case for resource con-sent, before it rejected the projectin July 2014.

An appeal was lodged in theHigh Court against that decision,but no fault could be found withthe board’s decision.

The agency had until yesterdayto take its case a step further tothe Supreme Court, but it decidedenough was enough.

Jenny Chetwynd, the Trans-port Agency’s acting chief execu-tive, said the agency was still com-mitted to finding a solution to theBasin’s traffic woes, but she couldnot say how long it would take.

‘‘The issues are still there, thecongestion hasn’t gone away, soit’s about going back to the com-munity and taking a fresh ap-

proach,’’ Chetwynd said.‘‘It sounds like a big conver-

sation, and it may well need to bea big conversation.’’

When asked whether a tunnelunder the Basin or a differentstyle of flyover would be looked atdown the track, she said it woulddepend on what the communitywanted.

During the next six to 12months, short-term ‘‘tweaks’’would be looked at to improve theBasin roundabout, which could in-clude altering the traffic lights andadding extra lane space, Chetwyndsaid.

‘‘To make Wellington reallyhum, we need to address this assoon as we can.’’

Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown was quick to reopen thedebate about trenching State High-way 1 at the Basin.

‘‘Based on the success of thePukeahu National War Memorialunderpass, trenching could be anattractive solution.’’

Wellington Central MP GrantRobertson said the $12.3m oftaxpayers’ cash ‘‘wasted’’ on theflyover saga to date was eye-watering. ‘‘This court case was thevery definition of flogging a deadhorse and should never have beenundertaken.’’

Tim Jones, spokesman for anti-flyover group Save the Basin, saidit had taken a long time for theTransport Agency to ‘‘come to itssenses’’.

‘‘But the decision not to pursuefurther legal action means centraland local government, and com-munity groups such as ourselves,can finally sit down and have ameaningful discussion about thebest alternatives for Wellington,’’he said.

Christine McCarthy, presidentof the Architectural Centre, whichalso opposed the flyover, said theagency’s decision would be ap-preciated by the many individualsand community groups whovoiced their opposition.