The Western Corridor is of key importance to Wellington. It is the main commuter route to the north and acts as the principal connection to the rest of the North Island. It contains both highway and rail links and is important for the movement of people and goods both into and out of the capital and between the country's North and South Islands. In 2003 Government passed the Land Transport Management Act and published its New Zealand Transport Strategy. This transformed the way that investment decisions are made in New Zealand, creating a multiple objective decision-making framework. In order to develop proposals for the Western Corridor in this new environment Greater Wellington Regional Council and Transit New Zealand agreed to work together to develop the corridor plan. A consultant team led by Maunsell Ltd was employed to assist in this task. This paper outlines the technical processes and investigations undertaken to produce a plan for the Western Corridor in this new legislative and procedural environment that is still affected by a lack of political and public consensus. Many important lessons are learned and described. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E215377.
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