Aucklanders are being asked for their views on whether the Wellington Street on-ramp should re-open to general traffic.
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Auckland Transport (AT) is delivering feedback forms to communities near the on-ramp and people in other areas can also have their say on the NZTA website.
In a statement released today NZTA's state highways manager for Auckland and Northland, Tommy Parker said the move was the first stage in a "very important transport debate".
"This … has wide-ranging and long-term impacts for both the communities living near Wellington Street, and motorway drivers in general," he says. "The more feedback there is, the better placed we are to make a well-informed decision."
The Wellington Street on-ramp has not been open to general traffic since May 2011 when it was re-built as part of the Victoria Park Tunnel project. It was lso closed for several months in 2010.
It was the NZTA's intention to reopen the on-ramp. However NZTA has said early indications were that Auckland's roading network may be operating better with it closed.
"We don't have a preferred view at this stage on how the on-ramp should operate. We have an opportunity to understand how we could make the network run better and we have an obligation to explore that fully. It is really important to us in developing our view that we understand the community's views too," says Mr Parker.
Last month Auckland Council said it was committed to supporting residents who wished to have the on-ramp reopened. Herne Bay Residents Association secretary Christine Cavanagh told the council's Transport Committee that the 7000 cars that would have used the on-ramp each day were now clogging inner-city streets to get to on-ramps at Curran St or Fanshawe St. Roads affected included Ponsonby Rd, Jervois Rd, Sarsfield St, Shelley Beach Rd, Wellington St and Franklin Rd - with rat running taking place in side streets.
Previously residents in the Beaumont St quarter had told The Aucklander that traffic near their homes had become unmanageable because of the increased traffic volumes through Beaumont St and people performing u-turns.
Former Auckland City Council member Graeme Easte told the NZ Herald last month that he believes the Transport Agency would need to obtain a change to the motorway's land designation if it wants to keep the ramp closed to general traffic.
Mr Easte, one of a seven-member hearings panel which, in 2006, approved a designation application by the former Transit NZ, said: "We were told that the Wellington St on-ramp would be retained in modified form.
"As local councillor, I was well aware of resident concerns about existing traffic loads on Curran St and would not have approved closure of the Wellington St on-ramp if it had been proposed."
Today Mr Parker said the Victoria Park Tunnel project is improving motorway driving through the central motorway junction.
"But I acknowledge that locally, there is some frustration about the on-going closure at Wellington Street and the impact it is having on community roads. That it is why it is critical that we talk with people so that we have a much better understanding of what is happening and why it is happening."
As well as the feedback, traffic data is being collected from local roads and the motorway and will be used as part of the review, the findings for which will be published in August. At that time Mr Parker says there will be another opportunity for the community to respond.
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