Council challenges congestion claims

By JULIET ROWAN



The Auckland City Council has disputed Transit NZ's claim of massive traffic congestion during the proposed V8 supercar race, saying disruption will be minimal.

The council has said the number of vehicles affected by the inner-city race, scheduled for 2006, will be a fraction of the figure estimated by Transit.

A council report released yesterday said journey times would be unchanged, with an 8700 reduction in the number of vehicles from the North Shore using the Fanshawe St offramp during peak hours.

Early this year Transit estimated that the 155,000 vehicles using the Harbour Bridge each day would need to be cut in half to avoid peak-time congestion during the three-day event, which the council hopes to stage for seven years.

The council report was compiled by traffic engineers using computer models to predict traffic flows and congestion.

The report said deterring traffic from using the Fanshawe St on- and offramps, which would be closed from 7pm on the Thursday before the weekend race until 6am the following Monday, was the key to avoiding gridlock.

Cameron Parr, the council's group manager for recreation and community services, said Transit had overestimated disruption by using a figure for traffic travelling in both directions on the bridge over 24 hours.

"155,000 vehicles don't get off at Fanshawe St," he said.

The report found congestion would not result if southbound traffic over the bridge was reduced to 4200 vehicles an hour between 6am and 1pm.


CAR NUMBERS

Reduction needed to avoid traffic jams:

Auckland City estimate 8700

Transit estimate About 75,000