Transport Minister Simeon Brown has refused to commit to a walking and cycling connection in Wellington’s second Mt Victoria tunnel after promising there would be one when he was in Opposition.

The existing tunnel is a bottleneck between the Basin Reserve and Wellington’s eastern suburbs as it only has two lanes for cars and a narrow path where cyclists and pedestrians squeeze past each other to get through.

On the campaign trail, Brown said National would finally build the second tunnel and it would include a new walking and cycling connection separate from traffic.

“It would be a larger tunnel designed to be able to have a much better walking and cycling connection through it because the current one, whilst people use it, is not a great experience,” he told the Herald.

But Labour and Green MPs say it looks like Brown is trying to walk back from that promise now he is a Minister.

This follows the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS) being released this week.

Funding for walking and cycling improvements has nearly been halved from up to $1b under Labour to $510m over three years in this plan.

This money has not only been cut but what is left has been asked to do more.

Brown had been a fierce critic of the Government using money from non-cycling “pots” of money to pay for things like cycleways. Previously, when building a state highway, money from the state highway “pot” could be used to build a cycleway alongside it.

The concern is now that if one were to build a cycleway alongside an expensive state highway project, like the Second Mt Victoria Tunnel, it would eat up the entire annual allowance for cycleways nationally. If this transpires, it would mean NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi choosing between culling cycleways from many inner-city state highway projects or funding one or two and axing funding for many of the smaller projects it has been co-funding with councils.

The existing Mt Victoria tunnel is a bottleneck between the Basin Reserve and Wellington’s eastern suburbs. Photo / Mark Mitchell

In future, the GPS said: “All investment in walking and cycling will come from the Walking and Cycling activity class, including investment in maintaining the existing walking and cycling network”.

Considering this, the Herald asked Brown whether the Government was committed to a walking and cycling connection in the second tunnel and if so, how it would be funded.

Brown did not say whether the Government was committed to it.

He said activity classes (pots of money) within the GPS for state highway and local improvements were designed to deliver just that- road improvements.

“Any walking and cycling elements would need to be funded from the associated Walking and Cycling Activity Class, or by councils themselves.”

Green Party transport spokeswoman and Rongotai MP Julie Anne Genter said Brown must clarify whether the new Government is going to keep its campaign promise.

“Based on the current vague answers, it looks like the Minister is trying to walk back from the National Party’s campaign promise.”

If the Government was going to deliver the connection, the Minister needed to say where the money for it would come from, Genter said.

“Because if it’s the walking and cycling activity class in the draft GPS, it will almost certainly mean no other walking and cycling improvements anywhere in the country for some years.

“People travelling between the eastern suburbs and town deserve a safe, healthy and convenient connection to walk and cycle if they choose.”

The Government’s fast-track legislation was announced today and one of the projects likely to benefit is the second Mt Victoria tunnel. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Labour’s Wellington Issues spokeswoman Ayesha Verrall said Brown had made a very clear commitment before the election.

“The National Party campaigned on particular roading projects and walking and cycling was part of the project Minister Brown campaigned on - he needs to honour that commitment.”

Cycle Wellington spokesman Patrick Morgan said every person on a bike meant less traffic congestion.

“With booming numbers of people on bikes in Wellington, there’s no doubt that a new tunnel must include separated bike lanes and a footpath.”

Outside the Basin Reserve today, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon unveiled the Government’s fast-track legislation, ticking off one of the final and most complicated items on his 100-day plan.

RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop said one of the projects likely to be fast-tracked was the second Mt Victoria tunnel, for which spades in the ground have been promised within the first term of this Government.

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.