National’s transport policy is my favourite policy of this election campaign so far.

Because we are taking the mickey with the state of our roads, and we need to get smart about this fast.

We have a $210 billion dollar infrastructure deficit in this country, and if we want to keep our young people here, we need to get back to looking and feeling like a first world country, and no first world country would put up with the state of our infrastructure.

You shouldn’t hit two lane roads only 1.5 hours out of our biggest cities. 

Depending on where you live, you will have your views on the most important roads announced by the Nats today. But for me, the big ones that are incredibly important to our efficiency and productivity are:

Turning Mill Road into a highway so motorists heading south of Auckland have an alternative to State Highway 1.

Adding the Warkworth to Wellsford chunk onto the new highway heading north of Auckland. 

Building a second Mt Vic tunnel to relieve the gridlocked traffic in Wellington.

I do not care what these roads cost.

Labour’s trying to throw shade, saying National’s got its numbers wrong. For example, saying Warkworth to Wellsford will cost $4 billion instead of National’s $2.2 billion.

I don’t care. Frankly, they’re probably both wrong

National’s incentivised to price low so it doesn’t look extravagant and Labour's incentivised to price high so it can justify not building the road.

As far as I'm concerned, we need the roads, so build them. I don’t care what it costs. We will never regret it.

And how to pay for it seems pretty simple to me:

Cancel the Light Rail stupidity. Just getting rid of the Auckland project saves $28 billion, and I'm not even counting the cost from the Wellington project. 

I don’t about you, but I've had absolutely enough of dropping speed limits, of being told to walk, of dodging potholesand of driving windy backroads when we should be and could be on world class highways. 

This is ambitious and it’s building New Zealand for future generations.

LISTEN ABOVE

National’s transport policy is my favourite policy of this election campaign so far.
Because we are taking the mickey with the state of our roads, and we need to get smart about this fast.
We have a $210 billion dollar infrastructure deficit in this country, and if we want to keep our young people here, we need to get back to looking and feeling like a first world country, and no first world country would put up with the state of our infrastructure.
You shouldn’t hit two lane roads only 1.5 hours out of our biggest cities. 
Depending on where you live, you will have your views on the most important roads announced by the Nats today. But for me, the big ones that are incredibly important to our efficiency and productivity are: 
Turning Mill Road into a highway so motorists heading south of Auckland have an alternative to State Highway 1.
Adding the Warkworth to Wellsford chunk onto the new highway heading north of Auckland. 
Building a second Mt Vic tunnel to relieve the gridlocked traffic in Wellington.
I do not care what these roads cost.
Labour’s trying to throw shade, saying National’s got its numbers wrong. For example, saying Warkworth to Wellsford will cost $4 billion instead of National’s $2.2 billion.
I don’t care. Frankly, they’re probably both wrong 
National’s incentivised to price low so it doesn’t look extravagant and Labour's incentivised to price high so it can justify not building the road.
As far as I'm concerned, we need the roads, so build them. I don’t care what it costs. We will never regret it.
And how to pay for it seems pretty simple to me:
<span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;" data-ccp-props="{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}">Cancel the Light Rail stupidity. Just getting rid of the Auckland project saves $28 billion, and I'm not even counting the cost from the Wellington project. 
I don’t about you, but I've had absolutely enough of dropping speed limits, of being told to walk, of dodging potholes and of driving windy backroads when we should be and could be on world class highways. 
This is ambitious and it’s building New Zealand for future generations.
LISTEN ABOVE

With a straight down the middle approach, Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on Newstalk ZB delivers the very latest news and views to New Zealanders as they wrap up their day.