The keystone in Auckland’s Western Ring Route

Waterview Connection - the keystone in Auckland’s Western Ring Route

Drivers in Auckland and local communities will both benefit from the NZ Transport Agency’s announcement today of funding for the Waterview Connection, says Auckland AA District Council Chairman Paul Hesseling.

The Waterview Connection is the final link in a chain of improvements to Auckland’s Western Ring Route. If work goes ahead on schedule, it will complete the Western Ring Route in 2015, providing a single motorway between Manukau and the North Shore as an alternative to SH1 and the Auckland Harbour Bridge crossing.

“Aucklanders have been badly affected by poor traffic planning for decades. To finally get this commitment to complete the Western Ring Route is great,” says Mr Hesseling.

“It will be both a safer and faster route for drivers commuting through the city,” he says.

Mr Hesseling also says that once built, the Waterview Connection will significantly reduce traffic through suburban roads, making those roads safer and more pleasant for local drivers, walkers and cyclists.

The AA believes there will be substantial economic spin-offs from the improved traffic flow in Auckland. In 2004 the AA commissioned a study to look at economic benefits from investment in transport infrastructure. The report estimated that completion of the Western Ring Route would bring about $840 million worth of economic benefit to New Zealand each year.

The Waterview Connection will go through the new Environmental Protection Agency consenting process.

“The streamlined consenting process will give Aucklanders certainty about how the project will progress sooner. We have already been waiting a long time for improvements to Auckland’s roading network, so the AA welcomes the more efficient consenting process for this project,” says Mr Hesseling.

The AA is pleased with the NZ Transport Agency’s design for a tunnel with three lanes in each direction.

“The Government has decided to fund a design which is future proof and one that mitigates impact on the community it goes through as much as possible,” says Mr Hesseling.

ENDS

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