KEY POINTS:
East Auckland's $1.5 billion super-transport package of new roads, bridges and bus lanes will end up costing more than $2.2 billion after adding public transport operating expenses, regional officials say.
The price of quadrupling public transport use around the Tamaki River suburbs over just 10 years is estimated at $300 million for buses and $400 million for trains, they told Auckland Regional Council's transport policy committee yesterday.
Committee members supported the proposed Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative (Ameti), which would provide several benefits including congestion relief and economic growth.
However, they wanted the scheme to ensure that roading capacity did not get too far ahead of better bus and rail services.
They called for a more explicit description of how Ameti fitted in with regional transport policy, and clarification of the financial implications for their council and its ratepayers of the increased public transport bill.
That will be on top of Auckland City's expected $871 million share of the project, and a contribution from Manukau City of about $600 million, both of which will depend on Government subsidies from Land Transport NZ, development levies and unidentified funding streams such as from road tolls or a regional fuel tax.
Council chairman Mike Lee also dismissed an Auckland City assurance that a new 3km road to carry vehicles on a more direct route from Mt Wellington Highway to Glen Innes, bypassing the Panmure town centre and its notorious six-pronged roundabout, would not spill large volumes of extra traffic through streets between there and central Auckland.
"I am concerned that this is not another Eastern Highway in drag," he said referring to an earlier $4 billion transport project which one of its champions, former Auckland City Mayor John Banks, blamed for his election defeat in 2004.
Mr Lee said voters clearly rejected that project, but if a new link were built to Merton Rd in Glen Innes, it would be "difficult not to have an Eastern Highway foisted on Auckland in the future".
Auckland City roads manager Matthew Rednall, in a joint presentation with Manukau City and Auckland Regional Transport Authority officials from a tripartite project team, said it was decided not to extend the link to St Johns Rd as modelling showed extra traffic likely to taper off to about 6000 vehicles a day north of Merton Rd.
That was against the 45,000 likely to travel daily between Mt Wellington Highway and a new link road being built through the Stonefields residential subdivision in the old quarry site, and 25,000 between there and Merton Rd.
"So it is not about a lot of new traffic, it is about redistributing traffic," Mr Rednall told the regional councillors.
Councillor David Hay found that hard to accept, given the transport demands of 8000 expected residents of the new subdivision as well as commercial tenants of an 80ha "innovation precinct" Auckland City is keen to develop near Auckland University's Tamaki campus.
But Mr Rednall said a strong focus would be on encouraging high public transport use, such as through new or redeveloped railway stations between Sylvia Park and Glen Innes.
Transport committee chairman Joel Cayford said it was becoming clear that the regional council should be included in a memorandum of understanding for the project, given the likely hefty call on its funds.
It was also crucial that pieces of infrastructure be added carefully to ensure more general traffic was not encouraged before extra public transport was in place.
"In other words, cars is what you'll get, whereas if people are irritated by congestion, they will take public transport - so staging is important."
Councillor Sandra Coney challenged the rationale of building more roads to compete with public transport, and a claim by consultants that the project would result in 14,000 fewer car trips in the average morning traffic peak.
Mr Rednall accepted that the number of car trips would increase in any event but said that without the project it would end up 14,000 higher than if the required extra investment were not made in public transport, walking and cycling infrastructure.
