Wellington : A Sick City

This booklet was written by the former Secretary for the Department of Industries & Commerce (and later accused spy) William ('Bill') Sutch shortly after his retirement from the civil service in 1965. In it Sutch draws upon his earlier experience of living in New York during the mid-late 1940s where he headed NZ's delegation to the United Nations. During that time he witnessed the post-war rise of the motorway and the privately owned motor vehicle, a corresponding lack of investment into public transport infrastructure and subsequently, huge traffic jams in American cities. Sutch raises his concern that the same mistakes are about to be made in Wellington where the closure of the tramway network occurred around the same time as the release of the 'De Leuw Cather' plan which proposed the basic design of what was to become the Wellington Urban Motorway. This booklet is a good example of the opposition to the proposed motorway which was common among Wellington's intelligentsia and arts communities. Another example of this is this alternative roading proposal by the firm Gabites and Beard which Sutch alludes to which is also on Wellington City Recollect.