Clark likes region's plan for speedier traffic action

By BERNARD ORSMAN

A plan to speed up practical solutions to Auckland traffic woes - and save the economy millions - has won support from the Prime Minister.

Helen Clark yesterday praised a joint exercise by Auckland political and business leaders to tackle public transport and roading works as an "intelligent attempt" to move forward.

She was speaking at a breakfast hosted by Auckland Mayor Christine Fletcher the day after the Auckland City Council voted unanimously to proceed with the Britomart transport terminal and new figures showed 7.6 per cent more people are using public transport than a year ago.

In a consensus-building exercise, business and political leaders want wider powers to make real progress over the next five years in completing the motorway system and to kick-start the new $1.2 billion public transport network.

Helen Clark said she shared the concern of the leaders - known as the Auckland Transport Action Group - that setting up a single Auckland transport structure would be a distraction in achieving action.

Instead of a new structure, the group has proposed wider powers for the regional land transport committee to prioritise transport projects, funding arrangements and resource management processes.

The guiding document would be the 1999 regional land transport strategy, which has been bogged down and made little progress in unclogging roads.

Traffic hold-ups are costing business about $1 billion a year.

The paper has called for policy and funding changes by the Government.

Those advocated include extra dedicated funds for public transport, the ability to borrow money and introduce tolls for transport projects, and Government agencies acting in a way that is consistent with regional land transport strategies.

Helen Clark said the Government should take a lot of what was in the paper seriously.

"Central Government has Transit, Transfund, the Ministry of Transport and the Land Transport Safety Authority, all with their ideas about roading. That, together with Auckland's fragmentation, has made decision-making difficult."

Auckland Regional Council chairman Philip Warren said the proposals in the paper were sensible and achievable to make real progress within the existing structures.

Alasdair Thompson, chief executive of the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern), said the paper had wide support from business as the means of ensuring that roads were built and public transport systems implemented.

"The benefit to business is that we will be able to get around and do business ... and we will have a city that works and doesn't clog up every time some ink falls off a truck somewhere."

Feature: Getting Auckland moving

Herald Online traffic reports

Rideline Auckland public transport information