 This required improved rail and road links with Wellington and rail and road development has contributed much to the growth of the Porirua area by reducing travel times, making it possible to live in the Porirua area and work in Wellington, and by making day-trips from Wellington to the beaches at Paremata, and Plimmerton relatively easy.Since the 1940s, Porirua has grown to a city population approaching 57,000, with state housing no longer in the majority.Major territorial additions to the city occurred in 1973 and 1988 as part of the reduction and eventual abolition of Hutt County.