KEY POINTS:
Aucklanders are taking longer to get to work and school than any time since 2003, despite Transit's hefty investments in motorway and roading improvements.
Although Transit is claiming some gains from investments including its $207 million refit of Spaghetti Junction, these did not stop the average morning-peak speed recorded over 300km of the region's arterial roading network in March from dropping to 34km/h.
That was the slowest recorded since 2003, when an average crawl of 32km/h was blamed as much on bad weather as on congested roads, and was markedly down from 39km/h in November.
Although Transit says there were too many seasonal differences to make valid comparisons between the latest survey and November's results, it acknowledges a deterioration from an average speed of 36km/h recorded in March last year.
The latest survey, conducted jointly with the Auckland Regional Council, put the average delay in morning peak traffic at 50.4 seconds for each kilometre along a 300km of motorways and selected arterial roads.
Although Transit urges caution in comparing congestion between cities, because of a different mix of roads and speed limits in each centre, the latest survey indicates longer morning delays in Auckland than anywhere in Australia, except Sydney.
An Australian survey monitored by Transit, although conducted two years ago, found an average delay of 51 seconds a kilometre in Sydney's morning peak traffic and of 46 seconds in Melbourne - the next most congested city. But Transit's Auckland regional manager, Peter Spies, points to some bright patches in Auckland in which average morning speeds have improved by more than 10km/h in the past three years.
These include the Northwestern Motorway between Bond St and Nelson St, through Spaghetti Junction, and on small sections of the Southern Motorway where new lanes have been added.
However, speeds have plummeted by more than 10km/h since 2003-04 along the full length of State Highway One between Papakura and a point just south of Mt Wellington, and from Spaghetti Junction to Onewa Rd in Northcote, including across the harbour bridge.
The northern highway exit from Auckland Airport to Kirkbride Rd in Mangere also suffered a 10km/h slowdown.
Mr Spies said Auckland's congestion was a reflection of continued economic and residential growth, but he believed gains already achieved would be followed by more improvements.
He said an average journey along the final 3.2km of the Northwestern Motorway to Nelson St took just four minutes to cover this March compared with almost 12 minutes in 2005.
More motorway improvements such as the northbound tunnel through Victoria Park and the replacement Newmarket viaduct should ease remaining bottlenecks through Spaghetti Junction, he said, as would extra traffic management tools such electronic message signs and signal lights on motorway on-ramps.
But Mr Spies said that motorway improvements, while able to ease congestion in places, were not going to be the whole solution.
"We are aware that the long-term solution to Auckland's transport issues does not lie with roading improvements alone, but with incentives for commuters to make greater use of public transport," he said.
"That is why Transit is collaborating with Auckland's territorial authorities on such projects as dedicated bus lanes that make for speedier and more efficient bus transport."
Auckland Regional Land Transport Committee chairman Joel Cayford said Transit's report reinforced his organisation's call for major investment in public transport and infrastructure. "We can't build out way out of our present situation," he said.
"Auckland needs to supplement the benefits arising from Transit's motorway investments by steadily improving the bus, rail and ferry passenger transport services we have."
