Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is pleased that the draft Government Policy Statement on Transport, released today, shows the Government is listening and responding to Auckland's priorities for transport.

“Aucklanders want us to deliver a faster, more resilient transport system. I’ve been focused on securing an integrated plan that includes sensible interventions to speed things up. This is progress,” said Mayor Brown.

Investment priorities and other changes included in the draft GPS for Auckland include:

• Northwest Rapid Transit
• Additional funding to enable Auckland to maintain and improve the condition of our roads
• Enhancement to the Warkworth to Whangarei State Highway, including Warkworth to Wellsford
• Expansion of the third and fourth Auckland rail mains
• An Avondale to Onehunga rail link
• A level crossing upgrade and removal programme
• Refocusing the safety budget, which provides Auckland with more flexibility on delivering sensible safety improvements as part of the broader improvement and renewal programme
• Commitment to integrated planning, including the Auckland Integrated Transport Plan, making the most of the existing system and managing demand

“The announcement today reflects quite a few of the priorities and changes that we have been discussing with the Government as part of our work on the Auckland Integrated Transport Plan, which is how we want things to work. It’s good to see the Government has taken on my board a lot of what we’ve been asking for.

“I particularly welcome the progress on Northwest Rapid Transit, which is a growing area where we can affordably deliver much faster, more reliable public transport. I have been saying that this is an obvious priority and needs to take precedence over the mega dream projects proposed.

“You only need to look at the success of the Northern Busway. If something works well like that, do it more. We don’t need to reinvent things with new pipe dreams.

“I also like that we will get more funding for maintenance and renewals, which we need to fix the state of our road surface, and that we get some flexibility on the safety budget which has seen a lot of poor-quality spend.

“I will update Aucklanders soon on the progress of the Auckland Integrated Transport plan. This is the next step in getting Auckland Council to where it was meant to be, as a partner with Government, and allowing Auckland to decide what Auckland gets, not Wellington,” says Mayor Brown.

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