The Napier-Gisborne road contains three bottlenecks where trucks going in different directions cannot pass, and Transit NZ and trucking firms are both concerned about the implications of this if there are even more logging trucks using that road. Coastal fuel ships have recently dropped Gisborne as a port of call, which means heavy loads of diesel and petrol have started being trucked from Napier to the East Coast. Another idea being floated is to turn the rail link into a heavy transport route - an alternative Napier to Gisborne road which would be used only by trucks, perhaps even as a private route. This bizarre option is discussed by officials and logging interests such as the Pan Pac Forest Products Ltd processing plant at Napier. Another bizarre proposal is to merge parts of the railway route into the road where the rail corridor offers an easier alignment without sharp corners.
Studies are underway to see if rail bridges can be improved to take cars.
Converting railway lines to roads makes as much sense today as pulling up all our tram lines did back in the 1960's. It would be a short-sighted and environmentally backward step. The sensible solution is to keep the line open and upgrade it so that it can carry passengers as well as freight. One of the difficulties of this option is that Tranz Rail wants to charge the government to keep the line open. To make the East Coast route viable, another operator would probably want to want to extend the journey from Gisborne to Wellington.