KEY POINTS:
In October the Herald called for nominations for the Auckland region's worst roads. Responses poured in, and from them we chose those we felt needed a good hard look. In the intervening months, repairs have been made to one or two.
These roads still receive a mention because of the agonies local residents suffered before the repairs were done. Here are the second five roads of the 10 we chose:
Meola Rd, Pt. Chevalier
The nomination reads: The worst road in Auckland without doubt has to be Meola Rd. In these tough economic times we should be trying to encourage alternative means of transport, and also reduce pollution and carbon emissions.
As one of the busiest roads in Auckland, Meola is an embarrassment. The surface is so bumpy and patchy that it has become dangerous, and most cyclists I know avoid it to minimise discomfort and damage to expensive and fragile cycles.
As well, cars parked along Meola Rd make the roadway very narrow in places.
Response from Auckland City Council: Meola Rd is classed as a district arterial road, with annual average daily traffic of more than 10,000 vehicles. The old surface was chipseal, and scabbing - a loss of chip - is exacerbated by the high-traffic volume. The new road surface, which has just been completed, is an asphalt concrete material, which is less prone to scabbing.
Yellow no-parking lines have been added to both sides of the road near the playing fields, which should make life easier for everyone. The council had been reluctant to remove parking in Meola Rd, as the narrowing of the road is a traffic-slowing or calming measure, but has relented.
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Gills Rd, Albany
The nomination reads: Potholes appear overnight along this tight, winding road, and there are no footpaths or street lights. A pedestrian island was installed at the first intersection, but it leads nowhere.
The surface is the worst ever, as well as the one-lane bridge and the narrowness. There are surface patches, loose gravel and off-camber corners.
Response from North Shore City Council: Gills Rd was established as a rural road serving a few large properties. Over the last five years there has been significant development in the area, justifying the upgrading and widening of Gills Rd.
Of the 2.3km length of Gills Rd, 1.7km has been upgraded and widened. Within this area is a 300m stretch of road upgrade nearing completion.
There is a 400m section of winding road from the one-lane bridge to the end of the upgraded southern section of Gills Road leading to Albany village. Growing residential development requires this road to carry increasing traffic, including cyclists and pedestrians.
The council has a major improvement project to realign this to take the growing traffic demand away from the middle of Albany village and provide a good connection to the new Albany centre.
The council has reviewed its city plan for capital spending, and this project is now expected to begin in 2019.
In view of this delay, the council will now plan major maintenance works to keep this road fit and safe until the realignment can be built.
A 200m section at the north end of Gills Rd, including the intersection with Lonely Track Rd and Albany Heights Rd, has been awaiting a small land purchase to allow the council to complete upgrading.
This will hopefully go ahead within the next year.
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Nelson St, Auckland City
The nomination reads: There are heaps of sunken covers in Nelson St, near the TVNZ building. These cause vehicles to bump if they drive over them, or swerve and risk an accident if they try to avoid them.
Response from Auckland City Council: Nelson St is a district arterial road, with average daily traffic of 13,000 vehicles between Fanshawe St and Victoria St and up to 28,000 between Union and Cook Sts.
The intersection of Cook and Wellesley Sts is being worked on in this financial year to fix the road base. It will be resurfaced with asphalt concrete from Union St through to Wellesley St.
The remaining section of Nelson St between Wellesley St and Fanshawe St will be resurfaced with the same material in the next financial year, ie, 2009/2010. This repair work will sort out the problem of low-lying manhole and hydrant covers.
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Fairview Ave, Albany
The nomination reads: The lower portion of this road is in constant need of pothole repair, particularly on each side of the one-lane bridge. Fairview is an access road for several existing and planned subdivisions as well as a lifestyle retirement village.
The lower section is a remnant of a country lane, with no shoulders or pedestrian walkways.
Pedestrians needing to access public transport, schools and shops must take a long detour, as well as crossing Oteha Valley Rd without the help of a pedestrian crossing.
Response from North Shore City Council: Chris Glanfield, land development and regulatory manager for the council, explains that Fairview Ave was a rural road that has experienced rapid urban growth over recent years.
The upper portion of the road has been progressively upgraded with the adjacent land subdivisions.
There are plans to realign the lower 350m portion of Fairview, across a paddock to connect into the Oteha Valley Rd/Medallion Drive roundabout.
The council is negotiating with the land owner to secure land to build the new road in conjunction with the proposed development of this site.
The proposed new road alignment will provide a shorter, safer and more direct connection to Oteha Valley Rd.
The old road with the one-lane bridge will be partially closed to become a left-turn-exit-only road on to Oteha Valley Rd.
In the interim, the old road will be maintained by the council.
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Lake Rd, Takapuna
The nomination reads: A strong contender for worst road is Lake Rd, between Hauraki Corner and Belmont. The only road in and out of Devonport, it carries 39,000 vehicles a day.
The local council recently installed cycle lanes on either side, making it even narrower. Long queues of cars form in both the morning and the evening.
Part of the section of Lake Rd between Hauraki Corner and Esmonde Rd has been resealed, but the rest of this part of Lake Rd is a disgrace.
Response from North Shore City Council: Chris Jones, transport programmes manager for the council, agrees that Lake Rd is a vital route that links important centres in the city. It is for this reason that the council continues to invest in this corridor.
This road carries more cyclists than any other similar route in the city and it is therefore appropriate that the council should have invested in providing cycle lanes to improve safety for this group of road users. However, it should also be remembered that flush medians were also provided along this length at the same time to improve the safety of right turns.
The work did not remove any formal capacity from the corridor: there was always a single lane in both directions. However, the council has acknowledged publicly in an infrastructure and environment committee meeting in June 2008 that an average delay of 47 seconds occurred north- and southbound in the morning and evening peaks, between March 2007 and March 2008. This statistic has been obtained from the Auckland Regional Transport Authority from bus travel times recorded along this stretch of road. Monitoring the efficiency of the corridor continues.
The council agrees also that the section of Lake Rd between Esmonde Rd and Hauraki Corner is in a poor condition and in October last year committed $8 million to upgrade this section as well as to carry out other associated works to ensure value for money. There has been quite extensive publicity and public consultation about this project over recent months.
The project will address the need to:
- Improve safety by reducing accidents caused by right-turning vehicles. A crash analysis of Lake Rd between Park Ave and Onepoto Rd showed 112 reported crashes between 2003 and 2007, of which 45 per cent (51) were a result of turning movements, and 31 per cent (35) were from rear-end crashes. The safety benefits will be provided by the provision of a flush median and standard lane widths, as now the lane widths are too narrow for a major arterial corridor.
- Improve the efficiency and quality of the corridor, which is crucial for the Devonport peninsula, by removing right turners from the carriageway because they will use the flush median; upgrading the road profile to provide better drainage and a smoother ride for all road users; and constructing recessed bus bays, which will remove buses from the live lanes.
- Achieve value for money by carrying out associated works simultaneously. These include extensive rehabilitation of the road (which would have to be carried out at night), undergrounding power cables, providing a pocket park at Hauraki corner, installation of comprehensive stormwater reticulation, and improving facilities for pedestrians (pedestrian refuge and crossing), cyclists (on-road cycle lanes) and bus passengers (improved bus stops).
In short, this project will deliver more than just a reseal, but rather a significantly upgraded and safer corridor with improved amenity value.
The first part of the works will see preparatory work taking place to allow the upgrading of the water main, and is expected to start in early March.
