Hours after another fatal crash at a notorious Waikato black spot, Waka Kotahi has revealed funding to improve the deadly stretch of road was actually re-prioritised after Labour came into power in 2017.
A van driver is dead and the driver of a gib truck was seriously injured after Wednesday's early morning crash at the intersection of Hickey Rd and State Highway 1 south of Cambridge.
It's the same spot where a car and ambulance collided three weeks ago, killing Rotorua ambulance transfer officer Susan Cutler and 33-year-old Auckland motorist Deon Hadley.
Locals like Alan Mitchell, who lives next to the scene, said the latest crash is the tenth outside this year.
"This one is particularly bad. The van is completely ripped open. If the van was full of passengers, every single one of them would have died."
Newshub understands the van, which usually transports patients with conditions like muscular dystrophy, was on its way south to Tauranga at 4:50am Wednesday when it collided with a truck.
The van driver died at the scene and the truckie received upper body injuries.
"Maybe now, Jacinda [Ardern, Prime Minister], you might say we do need a new road," said Mitchell.
The business case for a four-lane expressway from Cambridge to the Tauranga turnoff at SH29 was made in 2017. But Waka Kotahi has revealed funding for that project was put on hold with the change in government to Labour following the 2017 election.
Transport Minister Michael Wood on Wednesday declined to comment and elaborate on why the four-lane Cambridge to Piarere project was delayed.
"There was a re-prioritisation across the whole network for other investments, but it really only meant minor delays. We have still pushed on with safety improvements," said Waka Kotahi regional relationships director David Speirs.
Since 2020, a 2.4km flexible median safety barrier from south of Fergusson Gully was installed.
"It's been hit more than 40 times and every one of those is a potential head-on crash that's been avoided," said Speirs.
Another 1.6km of median barrier has been installed just north of Maungatautari Road.
A further 4.2km of median barrier is anticipated to be installed in this area in the 2022/23 construction season.
Waka Kotahi said the whole four-lane project is a complex process that may involve the purchase of land and Waka Kotahi is urging farmers and the community to have their say.
"Be patient, we are progressing and we are going to be engaging through October and November with landowners, with the community and we are going to be making some significant progress over the next 12 months."
Locals said it's immediately south of Cambridge where the new expressway ends and the speed limit suddenly drops that the carnage is at its worst.
"It's a death trap something has to be done."
Rumble lines, roundabouts and turnaround areas are planned for the busy SH1 corridor by the end of 2023.
Before that, Speirs said people can expect "more road widening, like road shoulders, perhaps widen the median barrier makes lane narrower people behave differently and slow down".
Slowing down is key, but those who pick up the pieces each time there's a crash hope decisions to make it safer are speedier than they have been.
