Cam Pitches: Freeway plans best left in the archives

COMMENT

The Auckland Business Forum, in its Catch Up Auckland supplement, fell into the trap of defining a solution as the problem when they advocated that we urgently need to "complete the road network".

Problems with Auckland transport need to be examined objectively before a solution can be put forward. The most significant problem is the number of cars registered in the Auckland region - 725,472, according to the Land Transport Safety Authority, or nearly 80 per cent of all vehicles.

Of course, this is an issue only if all cars take to the road at once, which, unfortunately, is pretty much what happens at peak times in Auckland. Peak period average vehicle occupancy is only about 1.4 people per vehicle. There are no incentives for improvement and many do not have any option other than driving their car.

Compounding congestion in recent years has been the phenomenal increase in the number of cars. Two years ago, there were 658,878 registered cars, so, on average, more than 91 cars a day have been added to our roads since.

Auckland City Mayor John Banks says the number of cars will double in 20 years. This implies that anything less than doubling the number of roads we have now will result in worse traffic congestion in 2025.

But building enough roads so that we can continue to drive ourselves in solitude at the same time as everyone else just is not financially, environmentally or even logistically feasible.

In any case, Auckland already has an extensive roading network by OECD standards. A recent Auckland Regional Council survey found that nearly half of those questioned felt they could get around well by private car, and a further 30 per cent were neutral on the issue.

An overriding strategic transport problem that is overlooked by roading proponents is our almost complete dependence on overseas oil. In the past two years the price of oil has doubled to about US$45 ($68) a barrel. This is because oil-producing nations have reached the point, at just over 80 million barrels a day, where they are pumping oil at full capacity to meet rising global demand.

China, for example, recently overtook Japan as the world's second-largest consumer of oil behind the United States. For the first eight months of this year, China's oil imports rose by nearly 40 per cent compared with the same period last year.

We need to consider the likely impact on our transport infrastructure if the price of oil doubles again in the next two years, because right now we are vulnerable.

The Auckland Business Forum points out that improved public transport will require an operational subsidy, but it neglects to mention the cost of operating our roading system. All private road users require a car and need to fund maintenance and fuel.

Statistics New Zealand tells us that Auckland spends about $140 million every month importing vehicles, parts and accessories, and more than $85 million on fuel. Since virtually all this spending ends up overseas, Auckland Inc has to earn a huge amount of foreign currency just to break even on our travel costs.

On the other hand, a large proportion of public transport operating expenditure has the potential to remain in New Zealand.

Case studies of roading projects both here and overseas show that roads are simply not as cost-effective as one might think, because of what is referred to by transport planners as induced traffic.

Washington DC's Interstate 270 was expanded from six to 12 lanes in the early 1990s, at a cost of US$200 million ($303 million). Within eight years the highway was again reduced to what one official described as "a rolling parking lot".

The induced traffic effect occurred immediately after the construction of the four-lane Auckland Harbour Bridge. Commuters switched from using ferries to their cars. Housing intensified to the north and within a few years planners admitted they had hopelessly underestimated the demand, and "clip-on" lanes were added.

For the planned eastern highway one doesn't need to factor in induced traffic to know it is a bad investment. This is because Auckland City's Eastdor report of 2002 established the highway had a benefit-cost ratio of 1:6, and did not qualify for Transfund funding, which requires a ratio of 4:0.

Since that time the projected cost of the highway has more than tripled, indicating that the ratio now stands at somewhere less than 1. About the only quantified benefits in the report were a seven-minute time saving from Botany Downs to the city centre, and a one-minute saving from St Heliers over current trip times.

The net effect of the eastern highway project has been to divert resources and debate from much more worthy transport projects. We need to use our network more intelligently.

Currently, the only enforced high-occupancy vehicle lane in Auckland is Onewa Rd on the North Shore. It has been hugely successful in improving traffic flow. This cost-effective principle needs to be extended to include our motorway system. Enforced high-occupancy lanes are common overseas.

We need to continue to work on our public transport network, which still lacks key features such as integrated bus, ferry and train timetables and a single integrated ticket.

We need to invest in electrifying our rail network to reduce our reliance on imported fossil fuels. We need to improve our rail services and connections, including the little-used eastern rail corridor.

We need to provide alternatives to the private car that are more convenient and less expensive.

We need to make it easier and safer to walk and cycle throughout Auckland.

In summary, 1950s plans for Los Angeles-style freeways throughout Auckland should be left in our archives as interesting relics of the way people once thought. We need to adapt our transport planning to the problems of the new millennium.

* Cam Pitches is convener of the Campaign for Better Transport.