Second crossing crucial to economy, says mayor

Dick Hubbard wants to see work speeded up on a new Waitemata Harbour bridge or tunnel.

The Auckland City Mayor said the risk to the local and national economies if the harbour bridge was damaged needed more consideration.

If a terrorist attack or shipping accident took out the link between Auckland and North Shore cities it would be as catastrophic to New Zealand as foot and mouth disease, he said.

"We have looked at it in terms of traffic management and traffic flow but I ask the question, 'what happens if that Auckland Harbour Bridge gets knocked down for three, six or nine months as a result of a sugar tanker hitting one of the piers, terrorists blowing it up or there just being a major structural failure?'," he said.

"Risk management is a fundamental part of business and I believe that one of the biggest risks to Auckland and to the New Zealand economy is our absolute reliance on the Harbour Bridge."

The issue of a second harbour crossing from the city to the North Shore has been around for years. Last year Transit NZ released a document on the feasibility of a second harbour crossing, but has no building plans on its 10-year wishlist.

Mr Hubbard said the regional land transport strategy stated it would take 13 to 16 years to plan, design and construct a second harbour crossing: "We need to get on and do this."

The new mayor has also come out in favour of tunnelling the Southern Motorway approach to the bridge at Victoria Park and St Marys Bay at the cost of an extra $130 million.

"Victoria Park is more than just a park. It is going to be a very important park in the future with all the residential development that goes on at the Viaduct area and through to Westhaven."