In the south, work on the (very) long proposed Transmission Gully Expressway has been in progress for a year now and will be experienced at each end for another three years; there will be major work coming where it joins the existing SH1.

In the north, at the end of November the government announced tenders for the $330 million Peka Peka to Otaki Expressway, or in the jargon, PP2O.  A completion date of this hasn’t been stated, but as the route is easy may be only be another 3 years also.

Peka Peka is both the north limit of the Waikanae Ward on the KCDC and the Capital & Coast DHB; but it is still the Kapiti Coast until you get north of Otaki, about 10 km further.  Just like Waikanae, the Otaki township will be bypassed by the Expressway.

Thus when both projects are complete, motorists will be able to drive at 100 km/h all the way from Wellington to just north of Otaki (about 72 km) without experiencing any of the Kapiti townships.

PP2O should boost the status of Otaki as a dormitory town for Wellington workers — and to be frank, it’s where a lot of Waikanae people would prefer residential development than the major subdivisons in Waikanae.

Whether PP2O will boost the Otaki economy is any other way is debatable: it depends on whether Otaki can develop visitor attractions; something for Cr Cootes and his Community Board to work on.

This is the NZTA website on PP2O; it now includes detailed plans in pdf form which were uploaded last month.