Transport Minister Michael Wood has been grilled about why upgrades to a notorious stretch of road in Cambridge were put on hold when the Government came into power.
AM host Ryan Bridge accused Transport Minister Michael Wood of answering questions about the notorious section of State Highway with "a lot of spin".
Wood was on the show on Friday for the regular political panel and was asked about the stretch of highway, where three people have died in crashes in recent weeks, and has long been decried by residents and local authorities.
Earlier this week, the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi revealed proposed improvements to the road - turning it into a four-lane expressway - were put on hold when Labour came to power in 2017.
"There was never money that was allocated towards this project under the previous Government - it was a project they announced before the 2017 election but it was never a funded project," Wood explained when asked why the project was put on hold.
He said there was a business case for the project "which Waka Kotahi has - but it's not a favoured project to turn this into a four-lane highway".
"But what they have been doing on this stretch of road is… putting in place improved safety improvements. So just south of this area, median barriers have been put in, they've been hit 40 times - reducing collisions - and there's currently work underway to do the detail design to make improvements on this piece of road, including a community consultation starting next month."
He said the fatal crashes were tragedies and it was "a reminder that every year, we lose between 300 and 400 people on our roads and there's ongoing work for us to make the system safer". Bridge then probed Wood further.
"So, a lot of spin in that answer," Bridge said. "What I want to know is - because there's still 4.2km of that stretch of road that doesn't have a median barrier… You've said that they've got a business case, what's happened with it?"
Wood said putting in the infrastructure "takes some work".
"For example, median barriers are a great solution in terms of reducing head-on collisions [but] you've actually got to do a lot of work with neighbouring landowners, who often have challenges in terms of… their access to the road, turning right, getting into their properties.
"There is literally a community open day planned for next month to be engaging with landowners around this piece of road and how we can move forward and make those improvements to make it safer, and that work will go ahead - we just need to work through the detail design and get it in place."
After another fatal crash on the nightmare stretch of road earlier this week, residents renewed their calls to the Government to fix what they call a "death trap".
A driver was killed on Wednesday after their van collided with a truck in almost the exact same location where a car and ambulance crashed, killing both drivers only a few weeks ago.
"On a regular basis, I hear a nasty crash, in the middle of the night and come roaring down my driveway to attend... recently it has been quite serious," said nearby resident Alan Mitchell.
"It doesn't matter what you do to it; barriers, markings, lights - it's not going to make any difference. The road is badly made."
On Thursday, three Waikato Mayors wrote to Wood begging for urgent action on the stretch of road.
