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Building The Case For Additional Waitematā Harbour Connections
The latest
stage of work to support Auckland’s growth and the future
of the transport system across the Waitematā Harbour will
be released later this week. The Additional Waitematā
Harbour Connections business case lays out the immediate
next steps for improving connectivity and travel choice, as
well as a roadmap for longer term planning to ensure
resilient, reliable and efficient transport options in this
nationally significant corridor. A partnership
approach between Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, Auckland
Transport and Auckland Council has built on previous work
including AT developing the public transport network and
Waka Kotahi exploring the feasibility of a tunnel
crossing. “The incident in September which damaged
the Auckland Harbour Bridge reinforces the importance of
diversifying away from reliance on the current cross-harbour
connections. However, the business case shows more work is
required to confirm details of additional harbour
connections before committing billions of dollars,” says
Waka Kotahi General Manager Transport Services Brett
Gliddon. The business case analyses the current and
future issues faced in Auckland’s Northern Motorway
corridor (including the Auckland Harbour Bridge and the
Northern Busway), assesses a number of options for
addressing these issues, and recommends a way forward to
provide a comprehensive and long-lasting
response. Mayor Phil Goff says, “The success of the
Northern Busway has helped to reduce immediate pressure on
the Harbour Bridge, but with Auckland’s population set to
hit nearly 2 million by 2030, in the longer-term an
additional harbour crossing will be essential. “A
new harbour crossing will likely be the most expensive
infrastructure project ever undertaken in New Zealand, so
it’s crucial that we take the time necessary to get the
planning and design right,” he says. A key finding
of the business case has been the urgent need to enhance the
highly successful Northern Busway. AT is now progressing
that investigation which will examine ways of upgrading the
Northern Busway to increase its capacity, reliability and
overall service quality into the future. Auckland
Transport Chief Executive Shane Ellison says “The Northern
Busway is critical to serving ongoing growth in the North
Shore and we look forward to continuing our work with Waka
Kotahi. This will help ensure that incremental improvements
can be made as we progress towards the final outcomes of
this business case.” The business case recommends a
phased approach to developing an additional rapid transit
connection for the North Shore (including across the
Waitemata Harbour to the city centre) that supplements and
integrates with the busway and the wider transport system to
provide more public transport options. Road improvements are
also required in the future to improve resilience and
address growing interpeak congestion. The next phase
will confirm the mode, form and function of an additional
crossing as well as a timeline for it to be in place before
the enhanced busway reaches capacity. This will be followed
by a phase to route protect land required for the options
developed as part of the process. “This roadmap will
take an integrated full network approach including
integration with other plans and projects like City Centre
to Māngere and North West rapid transit, work to support
land use and growth on the North Shore, the construction of
a connection for walking and cycling and any plans for road
pricing in Auckland.” The long-term solutions being
investigated would likely be New Zealand’s biggest
transport investments, costing billions of dollars and would
be expected to take more than 15 years of design and
construction work. Apart from the Northern Busway
improvements, construction is not anticipated to start until
the 2030s. The community and stakeholders will be given an
opportunity to have their say and help shape the next phases
of planning work, expected in 2021. The full business
case document will be available on the Waka Kotahi website
from Friday 6 November.Plan ahead for a safe,
enjoyable journey. Keep up to date
with:
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