Support to keep cars off bridge

Grafton Bridge reopens next month after undergoing a structural strengthening upgrade. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Cars and trucks are likely to be restricted to night trips only on Auckland's historic Grafton Bridge when it reopens next month as part of a $43 million busway between Britomart and Newmarket.

A review by city council staff of a proposal to ban general traffic between 7am and 7pm each weekday has found majority support among "key stakeholders" for keeping the strengthened bridge free for buses, pedestrians, cyclists and emergency vehicles.

Staff are also warning the council's transport committee that changing the proposal could trigger a reconsideration by the Transport Agency and the Auckland Regional Transport Authority of their combined $34 million contribution to the project.

That would represent "a considerable funding risk to the project", they say in a report prepared for a committee meeting on Thursday.

The report says that although only 21 out of 44 stakeholders sent letters by the council provided comments on the proposed vehicle ban, three-quarters supported it, including the Auckland District Health Board and the Grafton Residents' Association.

It says supporters generally believed the ban would allow the Central Connector to operate as an efficient and attractive bus route, without congestion caused by allowing cars on the bridge during daylight hours.

The Bus and Coach Association said the bridge would become a severe throttle point, delaying rerouted buses and making the whole busway project unviable.

The health board feared that allowing private vehicles to mingle with buses could cause access problems at Auckland City Hospital.

But one of five opponents of the proposed regime, the Newmarket Business Association, is appealing to the council to reopen the bridge to cars at least until the $215 million replacement Newmarket motorway viaduct is completed in three years.

"That would help access in and around Newmarket, which is being strangled by simultaneous construction projects," said association general manager Cameron Brewer.

Council transport committee chairman Ken Baguley, who initially queried the proposal when he inherited it from his political predecessors, said yesterday he was satisfied from the officers' report that it enjoyed majority support.

Had there been strong opposition from Grafton residents and businesses, he would have continued to be concerned about the ban but he was comfortable about the staff recommendation that it be introduced and then monitored for six months.