Editorial: Tackling a political roadblock

Maurice Williamson, the National Party transport spokesman, struck a blow for common sense this week when he promised to revive Auckland's controversial eastern highway across Hobson Bay. Popular wisdom has it that the scheme is a political no-go zone, being responsible, among other things, for John Banks' defeat in last year's mayoralty race. It is a view subscribed to even by Mr Banks. He has said that bringing up the highway again would be as pointless as bouncing dead cats.

He is wrong. The eastern highway keeps being resurrected because of its eminent logic. And, contrary to a much-peddled view, it is not a project reviled by most Aucklanders. A month or so before the local body elections, a Herald-Digipoll survey found that a clear majority, 59.9 per cent, of a sample of city residents supported the highway. The scheme did lead to the election of two councillors from the Hobson ward, where the not-in-my-backyard syndrome held sway. But the city-wide swing against Mr Banks was not a vote to cancel the highway but a tick for the more consensual politics advocated by Dick Hubbard.

Not that any of that dissuaded the new council from abandoning the scheme. It was prepared to overlook the fact that since 1955 a highway linking the city centre with the eastern suburbs and Manukau City has been a key plank in plans to avoid creeping gridlock. It has also paid scant attention to the fact that the need is becoming ever more pressing, given the high-density residential and commercial growth in the likes of Panmure, Glen Innes, the Mt Wellington quarry and Sylvia Park, and the projected major development south of Botany Downs.

It has not been able to ignore the repercussions altogether, however. The Auckland and Manukau City Councils, Transit and the Auckland Regional Transport Authority have begun a year-long consideration of new roads and public transport services in the eastern suburbs - minus a highway link across Hobson Bay. Over time, this may lead to a variety of developments that, in sum, may reduce congestion. But the approach will not deliver the singular and immediate impact of the eastern highway.

The scheme, or alternatives, was, of course, not mentioned yesterday when Transit announced the Auckland projects which will benefit from the Government's $500 million funding boost. But that said more about the city council's view of the highway than its merit. Indeed, even well-meaning local-body politicians have tended to hinder the scheme over the past few years. The ballooning costs associated with the more grandiose plans and inept concepts, notably that of tolling all the region's motorways to pay for it, would have eroded support for even the most worthy of projects. It says much for the rationale of the highway that when Aucklanders were last polled, almost 60 per cent still supported it.

Mr Williamson has recognised this, and also knows the backing in his Pakuranga electorate would be even stronger. To his credit, he is prepared to court the disfavour of the National-inclined voters whose homes overlook Hobson Bay and who installed the two Action Hobson candidates on the council. National, he says, would require Transit to take over the scheme as a fully state-funded highway, and expect it to use a streamlined Resource Management Act to overcome local objections.

Any cogent planning for an integrated transport network must include the eastern highway. Expanded capacity is badly needed for one of Auckland's fastest-growing areas. Quite rightly, the scheme has been placed back on the political agenda.