Review questions Auckland 'Spaghetti Junction' project

By JASON COLLIE transport reporter

International motorway experts have told Transit New Zealand to base its plans to untangle "Spaghetti Junction" around a "master vision."

A trio of consultants hired to review $90 million in planned improvements believe that the motorway authority should work on an over-arching concept for the scheme before getting bogged down in the details of each link.

"Spaghetti Junction" is the area where State Highway 1 (Southern Motorway) and the Northwestern Motorway meet near the central business area of Auckland.

Nine potential links have been mapped out, but the experts have questioned the authority on whether it has decided if the junction's primary role is as a north-to-south motorway route or to connect the CBD traffic.

The review chief, American Tim Neuman, said there were some good plans - to link the Northern and Northwestern Motorways, elevate the southbound lanes to increase capacity and link the Northern to the port - but they had to be matched against a master vision.

"The plan evolved piecemeal and our experience on major projects that need to be a key point of a city is they really needed to be approached from a different perspective.

"Transit need to go up high and have a vision and make sure everything they are doing is from a long-range perspective."

He said the plan for a motorway speed link between Hobson St and Ian McKinnon Drive was almost a luxury. It would serve only local traffic and take up space in a congested area which could be used for other carriageways.

Transit project manager Jon Lewando agreed that planners had devised the various improvements and realignments without a global strategy in mind.

He could not say whether Transit would take the experts' advice, but a lot of it made sense.

"It's not because we have done it incorrectly," Mr Lewando said. "It's because we became immersed in the detail."