roads Archive

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  Puhoi: This town is becoming like a ghost town - by frog

  
  
  
  Transport Minister Steven Joyce’s uneconomic Puhoi-Wellsford Holiday Highway is facing some unanticipated difficulties – from the Speaker of the House and National MP whom Joyce hopes to succeed as the MP for the Rodney electorate, Lockwood Smith. “No off-ramp for Puhoi”, read the innocuous headline on a brief story buried in [the NZ Herald]. No [...] read more
  August 29, 2010 6:54 am - 19 Comments
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  Poor ol’ Maurice – no longer on the roads again - by frog

  
  
  
  Maurice Williamson misses out on cabinet but wins our Photoshop Willie award. It seems mentioning roading tolls that don’t exist (?) repeatedly through the campaign means Key has put him on the road to the backbenches again. read more
  November 18, 2008 8:10 am - 2 Comments
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  Bike helmets - by frog

  
  
  
  Transport safety Minister Harry Duynhoven’s comment about bike helmets, “I wonder if we never had helmets what our cycle population might be … I’m not advocating getting rid of helmets, I’m just saying I wonder what the social effect of helmets has been,” is interesting but basically irrelevant to the important debate about promoting cycling [...] read more
  October 23, 2008 11:05 am - 20 Comments
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  Paying for the privilege - by frog

  
  
  
  I see Maurice Williamson’s much derided $5 a trip road toll has been revised downwards to $2 or $3 a trip.  And what’s more that’s real value for money when you think about how much time get get to spend sitting in your car.  it’s not like it’s all spent in a jiffy: Photo credit: [...] read more
  October 21, 2008 6:17 am - 35 Comments
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  A bicycle story - by frog

  
  
  
  The pictures were taken in Odense, Denmark. Freiburg, Germany, Stockhom, Sweden, and Vienna, Austria. read more
  October 7, 2008 6:22 am - 1 Comment
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  National looks short of cash - by frog

  
  
  
  John Armstrong’s commentary in the Herald this morning on borrowing to fund infrastructure combined with The Dog & Lemon’s call for the National Party to clarify its position on toll roads, paint a worrying picture for voters who are still shopping about. Personally I think National can validly try to raise a debate about increasing [...] read more
  August 21, 2008 1:11 pm - 8 Comments
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  Roads, roads, roads - by frog

  
  
  
  I love Slane’s cartoon in this week’s Listener.  I like to imagine he had roading initiatives in mind when he penned it. Labour’s transport plan as climate change and peak oil both collide onto the political agenda = spend a record breaking amount of taxes on building new roads for more cars to drive on. [...] read more
  August 5, 2008 2:12 pm - 15 Comments
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  Transit’s chainsaw massacre - by frog

  
  
  
  Following on from yesterday’s post about the matai trees in Haast that were going to be cut down because they were old and rotten, Metiria has just released some photos proving that they are healthy, or at least, they were healthy: Metiria is worried abut the precedent this sets: Yet these unique trees, supposedly so [...] read more
  July 31, 2008 2:11 pm - 11 Comments
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  Old matai make way for campervans - by frog

  
  
  
  When the Haast highway builders passed through ancient Matai forest forty years ago, the trees were left standing close to the road. After all, some of them had already been there for 1000 years or more. So that’s why Metiria is trying to find out why Transit currently felling 250 ancient podocarps along this scenic [...] read more
  July 30, 2008 4:54 pm - 6 Comments
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  The public transport challenge - by frog

  
  
  
  I thought Jeanette’s challenge to the Government to invest in public transport ahead of motorways was a good one, but, well you’d expect that of me really. The Government must acknowledge that its motorways-at-any-cost mentality is forcing people into a mode of travel that they simply cannot afford. My private members bill says that two [...] read more
  June 9, 2008 4:43 pm - 16 Comments
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  Electric cars are not the whole solution - by frog

  
  
  
  The Hive claims to be ‘at the heart of the Wellington political process’ and have links and sources that means it knows nearly everything that happens in Wellington , but actually spends most of its time linking to newspaper articles and press releases just like everyone else.  So, today it linked to a Dominion Post [...] read more
  April 3, 2008 12:15 pm - 16 Comments
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  Shared transport space - by frog

  
  
  
  Monday’s news coverage of Cyclist Josh Campbell’s youtube video of the dangers cyclists face out on the frontier streets of Christchurch has provoked debate about the perceived dangers cyclists face on our roads. I reckon that cyclists in other cities and towns could easily replicate that footage or provide more horror stories. Without wanting to [...] read more
  March 12, 2008 9:51 am - 5 Comments
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  Russel’s response to Helen Clark - by frog

  
  
  
  Here’s Russel again, this time responding to the Prime Minister’s speech this morning. And Frog’s got a few questions for the Prime Minister: If the problem is the poverty caused by the 1991 Mother of All Budget cuts, why is the solution keeping young people in schools (or other forms of education) and a $9 [...] read more
  January 30, 2008 2:53 pm - 17 Comments