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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on May 23, 2013 22:00:22 GMT 12
Ratepayers' $1m contribution for airport bidBy MICHAEL FORBES - The Dominion Post | 3:11PM - Thursday, 23 May 2013 NEW GROWTH: Wellington International Airport is vying
for an extension to attract international flights.
— ANDREW GORRIE/Fairfax NZ.WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL is stumping up $1 million of ratepayer's money to help Wellington Airport make it through the resource consent phase for its proposed runway extension.
The airport is considering a 300-metre extension north into Evans Bay at a projected cost of $300 million — or $1m a metre.
The extension would allow long-haul flights to and from Asia, and connections to Europe, with new-generation aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A350.
Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said the resource consent process was expected to cost $2 million and the council would vote later this month to contribute up to $1 million as a project "kick start".
If approved, the council contribution would be funded from under-spending in the 2012/13 financial year.
Direct international air links from Wellington to destinations beyond Australia would help the capital's creative and digital sectors flourish, Ms Wade-Brown said.
"We need flights as well as bytes," she said. "Wellington International Airport is Wellington's key strategic asset and gateway to the world. It's appropriate that council helps kick-start the process to get this major infrastructure project moving."
Ms Wade-Brown said it was likely the airport's resource consent application would need to be considered by the Environmental Protection Authority, although some aspects may still be decided by the council.
When asked if she was already rubber-stamping any future application that landed on the her desk, she said: "We believe any issues are manageable."
The short and long-term benefits to Wellington of a runway extension were significant, she said.
BERL has calculated the immediate direct economic benefit to the region at more than $43 million a year with more than 300 post-construction jobs created.
Economic Development portfolio leader Jo Coughlan said the potential economic benefit from doubling the number of international students in Wellington was estimated at $70 million a year.
"It would also obviously provide major opportunities for the likes of the business and education sectors."
Wellington International Airport chief executive Steve Sanderson said over 1000 people currently fly in and out of Wellington to other airports in order to reach a long-haul destination.
"The highly mobile and affluent market will support daily long haul flights and improving Wellington's international connectivity will deliver the economic growth the region is crying out for."
The runway extension was included within the airport's 2030 Master Plan.
In a report to councillors, the airport said it believed resource consent was necessary to enable detailed design work, costings, business cases and funding options to be developed.
Engineering and aviation design, coastal processes, landscaping, traffic design, noise and recreation impacts, archaeology and cultural effects and alternatives all still needed to be looked at.
"Proceeding with the consent process is a necessary first step to lift the proposed extension from a conceptual level to a definable project."
Depending on the planning and consent process, the extension could be finished by 2018.www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/8709324/Ratepayers-1m-contribution-for-airport-bid
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Post by alexjc on May 24, 2013 13:59:02 GMT 12
...extending into Evans Bay, so they show a picture of the Moa Point end...Gosh Fairfax are brilliant!!
Still, all the best for this long overdue extension.
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Post by Peter Lewis on May 24, 2013 16:11:45 GMT 12
Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said the resource consent process was expected to cost $2 million Realize that this $2mil is just paperwork. All to be spent on Lawyers, Consultants and Council penpushers. Anticipated to take a goodly part of the five years. Not a single stone will be moved over this time and for this cost. We just get a pile of paper. No wonder NZ as a country is sliding down the world economic stakes. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 24, 2013 17:25:40 GMT 12
Chuck the piles of paper into Evans Bay and build on that.  Or why not sell them the runway extension from Hamilton Airport second hand since it's no longer international and getting used. |
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on May 24, 2013 17:31:36 GMT 12
Extending into Evans Bay isn't simply a matter of reclaiming land and building the runway extension.
There is a road called State Highway One in the way.
There are also extensive services that aren't owned by the airport.
And a 300-metre extension northwards encroaches onto a wharf that is regularly used by big ships and that wharf likewise is owned by parties other than the airport.
Hence the reason why we have the Resource Management Act and the right for affected parties to have a say, undertake appeals, etc.
If the airport owned the land (and the seabed), then they would merely be doing stuff to their own property.
But the simple fact is that the property they wish to encroach into is owned by other parties.
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Post by ngatimozart on May 24, 2013 20:27:34 GMT 12
That wharf was / is an oil terminal or used to be. I think you would be able to engineer an underpass for the road. Not sure if it is SH1 though. From a coastal POV a lot of work will have to be done on how the extension into Evans Bay will change the coastal environment within the bay & possibly beyond. That is the beaches within the bay, such as at Hataitai, Shelly Bay etc. It will affect the water movement and the sediment budget. Basically where is the erosion and accretion going to occur and by how much. There'll be all the usual engineering issues as well plus earthquake engineering. Then the operational issues during construction. Be quite an interesting process to watch. There are changes to the Resource Management Act which restrict those who can support or oppose an application to those directly involved. So you won't be able to have a group from ChCh or Auckland able to be involved in the RMA process. So they technically can't cause it to be dragged through the Environment Court as an example.
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Post by suthg on May 24, 2013 20:48:52 GMT 12
I gather the incoming flights to Wellington in a southerly approaching from the north, regularly pass over Newlands and Maungaraki with not much clearance. What is to happen when they extend the runway further in that direction for larger planes?? It is certainly going to make for much hairier rides arriving into the teeth of a southerly. But then the large airlines just bang them down on the chalk and ask the plane to handle it...
Wouldn't it be easier to extend it to the south?
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 24, 2013 20:56:37 GMT 12
Why doesn't State Highway One just end at the Ferry Terminal?? |
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Post by ngatimozart on May 24, 2013 21:08:39 GMT 12
I gather the incoming flights to Wellington in a southerly approaching from the north, regularly pass over Newlands and Maungaraki with not much clearance. What is to happen when they extend the runway further in that direction for larger planes?? It is certainly going to make for much hairier rides arriving into the teeth of a southerly. But then the large airlines just bang them down on the chalk and ask the plane to handle it... Wouldn't it be easier to extend it to the south? No because the south end is Cook Strait with a highly dynamic wave environment meaning greater probability of erosion, so higher engineering & construction costs to mitigate for that. Rock armouring is quite expensive and you can get some very impressive waves in Cook Strait which potentially have the energy to move the rocks. |
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Post by mumbles on May 24, 2013 21:14:28 GMT 12
Why doesn't State Highway One just end at the Ferry Terminal?? Why would it? Plenty of North Island left to go after that. The official SH1 terminus in the lower North Island is the roundabout next to the airport. |
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Post by mumbles on May 24, 2013 21:15:39 GMT 12
I gather the incoming flights to Wellington in a southerly approaching from the north, regularly pass over Newlands and Maungaraki with not much clearance. What is to happen when they extend the runway further in that direction for larger planes?? It is certainly going to make for much hairier rides arriving into the teeth of a southerly. But then the large airlines just bang them down on the chalk and ask the plane to handle it... Wouldn't it be easier to extend it to the south? More Porirua/Johnsonville/Tawa etc than Maungaraki, which is in Lower Hutt rather than Wellington city and a few Ks to the side of the approach path. Would moving a touchdown point 300m north really make that much of a difference? |
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Post by mumbles on May 24, 2013 21:19:01 GMT 12
There is a road called State Highway One in the way. Which should have been bridged decades ago for safety reasons alone. This current extension talk is all profit motivated, but the drop-off to that road with it's four lanes, trolley bus wires, gas mains and god knows what else has been a concern for a long time. |
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Post by No longer identifiable on May 24, 2013 21:29:52 GMT 12
That wharf was / is an oil terminal or used to be. I think you would be able to engineer an underpass for the road. Not sure if it is SH1 though. From a coastal POV a lot of work will have to be done on how the extension into Evans Bay will change the coastal environment within the bay & possibly beyond. That is the beaches within the bay, such as at Hataitai, Shelly Bay etc. It will affect the water movement and the sediment budget. Basically where is the erosion and accretion going to occur and by how much. There'll be all the usual engineering issues as well plus earthquake engineering. Then the operational issues during construction. Be quite an interesting process to watch. There are changes to the Resource Management Act which restrict those who can support or oppose an application to those directly involved. So you won't be able to have a group from ChCh or Auckland able to be involved in the RMA process. So they technically can't cause it to be dragged through the Environment Court as an example. Paul - Absolutely correct. However, extending the runway into Evans Bay was the plan back in the 1970's, so it's nothing new. A small part of my job at that time was as a construction diver with the Ministry of Works, and one job I worked on was trying to recover a broken 4 inch coring casing from the seabed in Evans Bay. The MoW had a drill rig mounted on a barge and were doing coring right out into the bay when the barge moved and the steel casing snapped off at just below seabed level. Three of us divers used an airlift to dig a big crater underwater at about 40 feet to find the drill casing, and then a large tap was guided down to the casing from the rig and an attempt was made to tap into it, but the threads kept stripping so about $2,000 of casing is still down there somewhere. That was a lot of money in those days. |
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Post by mumbles on May 24, 2013 21:38:06 GMT 12
That wharf was / is an oil terminal or used to be. I think you would be able to engineer an underpass for the road. . . . There'll be all the usual engineering issues as well plus earthquake engineering. Then the operational issues during construction. Be quite an interesting process to watch. Be just like bridging Moa Point Road at the southern end all over again, just a bit bigger . |
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on May 24, 2013 21:40:14 GMT 12
Why doesn't State Highway One just end at the Ferry Terminal??
In actual fact, it is designated as being both SH1 and SH2 all the way to the airport. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 24, 2013 22:02:28 GMT 12
Why doesn't State Highway One just end at the Ferry Terminal?? Why would it? Plenty of North Island left to go after that. The official SH1 terminus in the lower North Island is the roundabout next to the airport. A roundabout so you can turn round and go back to the ferry terminal |
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on May 24, 2013 22:46:53 GMT 12
Anyway, I guess when (if?) the runway extension to the north eventually goes ahead, the wake turbulence on the water will move further north....   BTW....that is NOT the roundabout where SH1 and SH2 end. |
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on May 24, 2013 22:55:05 GMT 12
There is a road called State Highway One in the way. Which should have been bridged decades ago for safety reasons alone. This current extension talk is all profit motivated, but the drop-off to that road with it's four lanes, trolley bus wires, gas mains and god knows what else has been a concern for a long time. If the original plan had been stuck to in the 1950s, those trolley bus wires wouldn't have been there. When construction of Wellington Airport began, the tram routes to Miramar, Strathmore Park and Seatoun used to go straight down Coutts Street to Broadway. The trams were temporarily (permanently as it eventually turned out) terminated at Kilburnie while the airport was built. The intention was to put in a cut-and-cover tunnel for trams beneath the airport, then reinstate the trams to the Miramar Peninsula area. However, at some point during the construction of the airport, Wellington City Council decided to permanently close the tram route to the Miramar Peninsula and put in trolley bus wires along the road to the north of the airport instead. A tunnel was built beneath the airport from the end of the cut-back Coutts Street, but it was for pedestrians and cyclists only. If the original plan had been stuck to, then it is highly probably that the intended tram tunnel would have eventually become a bus tunnel, as occurred with the Hataitai tram tunnel when that tram route was closed in 1963. |
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Post by flyjoe180 on May 25, 2013 9:51:20 GMT 12
They must have issues to deal with with some terrain at the northern end as already indicated, and certainly the wharf at Miramar is going to be more of an issue with the take off path on RWY34. I'm sure the planners have it all under control though.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jun 1, 2013 13:45:04 GMT 12
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