KEY POINTS:
Motorists and pedestrians face more than a year of further disruption after contractors move today into the second stage of Auckland City Council's controversial $41 million upgrade of Queen St.
Traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction at various times from now until August in the busy block between Wellesley and Victoria Sts, and will face similar restrictions for several months after that as footpath-widening is extended towards Customs St.
Project leader Adrienne Wootton acknowledged that the work was likely to be even more challenging for traffic management than the first stage of the project, between Wellesley St and Mayoral Drive, which wore on through much of last year.
That was because even more pedestrians and vehicles used the Wellesley-Victoria block.
But she said the council had arranged for contractors to add a third team of 15 to 20 workers to speed up the job, after holding discussions with retailers keen to see the finished product of widened footpaths along a street used by about 50,000 pedestrians and 20,000 vehicles each weekday.
The section as far as Victoria St is expected to take until August, and a further stage to Customs St until about March next year.
"We are trying to minimise disruption and have been talking to businesses - the message we have been getting is to get it done," Ms Wootton said.
The Wellesley-Victoria stage will include axing 19 more trees and planting 29 new specimens.
Three nikau palms have already been planted at the confluence of Queen, Wakefield and Rutland Sts.
The overall Queen St project will eventually involve the replacement of 79 trees, including 27 healthy ones up to 15m high, with 111 new specimens.
That follows a political u-turn by Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard, who promised in a letter to the Herald at the end of 2005 that his council "will not be taking healthy trees out of Queen St".
Motorists heading back to work this week also face disruption from several other projects around Auckland, although Transit NZ expects to reopen all lanes of the harbour bridge this morning - two of which have been closed since Christmas for resurfacing - and also the intersection of Hillsborough Rd with the end of the Southwestern Motorway.
A giant temporary roundabout at the busy intersection will be controlled by traffic lights over the next two years while an interchange for the Mt Roskill motorway extension is built in the middle.
Commuters face more disruption along another section of Hillsborough Rd from tomorrow as council contractors finish rebuilding a critical 1km section through Lynfield.
Contractors have already rebuilt one carriageway in what is a $1.3 million project. The opposite side will take another seven weeks to complete.
That means motorists should use White Swan and Richardson Rds, where the council is imposing parking restrictions, as a detour route between Blockhouse Bay and Mangere Bridge.
Traffic will also remain restricted until January 19 to allow work on parts of another busy arterial route, Campbell Rd in One Tree Hill.
Meanwhile, rail passengers on Auckland's western line are promised new platforms from this morning at Glen Eden and Fruitvale stations, but are urged to allow themselves more time to catch trains in case they find themselves on the wrong side of the tracks.
The old platforms will be closed and their replacements will be on the other side of the tracks at both stations.
Up to speed
Harbour Bridge: All lanes expected to be open from today.
Hillsborough Rd: Roadworks disruption for 1km through Lynfield; temporary roundabout in place at Hugh Watt Drive intersection.
Queen St: Traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction at various times from now until August in the busy block between Wellesley and Victoria Sts.
Rail: New platforms at Glen Eden and Fruitvale stations (on the other side of the tracks from the old platforms).
