Light rail is front and centre of the latest proposal for a second harbour crossing - but construction won't begin until the late 2030s.
Light rail is front and centre of the latest proposal for a second harbour crossing - but construction won't begin until the late 2030s.
Will they ever finish that section of motorway? When will those extra lanes open? Why is construction taking so long? Transport reporter Bernard Orsman takes a look at the progress of some of our biggest motorway projects.
Ever since the Auckland Harbour Bridge opened 60 years ago, a second harbourcrossing has been mooted.
There has been talk of a new bridge, tunnels under the Waitematā Harbour, a rail crossing and a radical idea of demolishing the existing bridge for a new arching structure supporting a splay of cables in the shape of a sail.
The 2007 sail design would carry cars, buses, bicycles, pedestrians and possibly light rail.
Fast-forward to 2019, and light rail is front and centre of the latest proposal from the NZ Transport Agency for a second harbour crossing with construction not set to begin until the late 2030s.
After looking at three options - a tunnel for light rail, a combined road and light rail tunnel, and doing nothing - NZTA said the best option was a combination of a light rail tunnel plus road pricing.
Truck restrictions could be needed on the harbour bridge by about 2030 and a new form of rapid transit will be required by the mid-2030s when the Northern Busway reaches capacity, the agency told Transport Minister Phil Twyford in a briefing last year.
Former Kaipatiki Local Board member Nick Kearney posted on Facebook he had received the same analysis from NZTA eight years ago about restricting heavy vehicles on the bridge and a tunnel proposal.
"This is a classic case of paralysis by analysis. I don't expect any government to campaign for tolls to be introduced on the current bridge. It is also clear that by pushing out the date to 2030, politicians can, and will, kick the can down the road," Kearney said on social media.
Traffic congestion on Auckland Harbour Bridge.
There will almost certainly be more proposals on a second harbour crossing - NZTA are unlikely to push the light rail option if there is a change of government - but Twyford has pointed out it will take 10 years to plan a second harbour crossing and a further five to 10 years to build.
In the meantime, the current $3.2 billion programme of motorway projects linking Wellsford in the north to Cambridge in the south is expected to be finished by 2022 with little in the way of new roading projects in the pipeline.
There are, however, some big projects to take their place, such as Watercare's $1.2b giant sewer pipeline, the $4.4b City Rail Link and plans by the Government for two light rail lines costing more than $6b.
When it comes to new roads, the only confirmed project is a $70 million road safety project on SH16 between Brigham Creek and Waimauku in West Auckland due to start early next year.
From 2006 to 2015, four people died and 30 were seriously injured on the section of motorway, with more than a third of the crashes caused by drivers losing control and hitting an oncoming vehicle.
The transport agency says something has to change and plans a raft of changes, including installing flexible road safety barriers, an extra lane in each direction between Brigham Creek and Taupaki roundabout and a roundabout at the SH16/Coatesville Riverhead Highway intersection.
A survey last September found 69 per cent support for a lower speed limit.
Among new motorway projects with no start dates is widening SH1 between Papakura and Bombay, improving access to Auckland Airport from the southwest, new roads to support growth in the north and south and upgrading SH22 between Drury and Paerata.
The proposed Penlink road linking Whangaparoa with SH1.
The south is the largest urban growth area in Auckland, with more than 5000ha of greenfield land set aside for about 40,000 houses around Drury, Paerata and Takanini over the next 30 years.
The SH1 Papakura to Bombay project will build on the Southern Corridor improvements between Manukau and Papakura to provide extra lanes, new local road connections, wider shoulders for public transport, integration with future rail stations and a shared walking and cycle path.
This feeds into the "Supporting Growth Programme" in the south and north, which includes a $63m Matakana link road to improve the notorious Hill St intersection bottleneck, due to start later this year. It will initially be a two-lane road, but widened to four lanes costing an extra $16m as traffic demand grows.
Over coming decades, Warkworth and surrounds will follow Albany, going from a quiet rural town to suburban sprawl with thousands of new homes and businesses.
Improved access to southwest Auckland will take the form of three projects. Rapid transit - probably buses - between the airport, Manukau and Botany, led by Auckland Transport; improvements to State Highways 20, 20A and 20B to make it easier travelling around the southwest; and a massive $1.8b upgrade of Auckland Airport.
Another major roading project down the list is the Mill Rd corridor running east of SH1 from Manukau to Drury, which the previous National Government planned to build at a cost of $1b if re-elected.
The Labour Government is partnering on Mill Rd with Auckland Council, which has set aside $100m from the regional fuel tax towards the new road. The plan is to start work between 2024 and 2028 and deliver it in stages over several decades.
The future of the $1.8 billion east-west link is uncertain.
A big roading project that has fallen victim to politics is the $1.8b east-west link running through Auckland's industrial belt, connecting SH1 at Sylvia Park with SH20 at Onehunga.
The coalition Government has cancelled National's proposal for the link and asked the NZ Transport Agency to come up with a scaled-back plan. So far, nothing has come forward.
Twyford said the Government is still waiting to see NZTA's alternative.
He said Penlink and Mill Rd are set down in the first decade of the Auckland Transport Alignment Project - a 30-year joint transport programme between the Government and Auckland Council.
