Transit NZ accused of favouring mega-mall

Newmarket businesses claim Transit NZ motorway signs are discriminating against them in favour of a new competitor, the Sylvia Park mega-mall in Mt Wellington.

They are annoyed that, although Transit has erected large green signs beside the Southern Motorway in both directions announcing "Sylvia Park Mt Wellington this exit", the national highways agency says there is not enough room for similar treatment for Newmarket near its main southbound off-ramp to Gillies Ave.

The emergence of the Sylvia Park signs follows an unsuccessful bid last year by the Newmarket Business Association to have its suburb's name added to one or more of the Transit signs which announce Exit 431 to "Gillies Ave & Airport".

Transit said then that it wanted to give priority to a new exit numbering system, which it believed would make navigating the motorway easier than if drivers had to rely only on place names.

But business association general manager Cameron Brewer accuses Transit of not playing by its own rules in allowing Sylvia Park special motorway mentions, while ignoring pleas for similar attention for Newmarket as a well-established suburb and important shopping precinct.

"Sylvia Park may be an old name, but it is not a suburb or even a business district - it is simply a pocket of Mt Wellington," Mr Brewer said.

"No one even lives in Sylvia Park. It's effectively a brand that is getting special treatment and arguably a commercial advantage from a taxpayer-funded agency, no less."

Although there is a northbound motorway sign announcing an exit to Newmarket, city hospitals and Auckland Museum, Mr Brewer said that was the Khyber Pass off-ramp which overshot his suburb, to which the main access was southbound.

Transit regional manager Peter Spies in a letter to Mr Brewer has acknowledged Newmarket as "a significant shopping district", which would in principle qualify for supplementary destination signage for the Gillies Ave off-ramp.

But he said there was insufficient room to accommodate more motorway signs, while observing international best practice of keeping a minimum distance of 200m between them.

"This general area of the Auckland motorway network is very complex and has reached sign saturation point with the number of signs and the amount of information that the driver needs to read, understand and take action," Mr Spies wrote. "Transit considers that any further signing is likely to distract motorists and become a potential safety issue."

Mr Brewer yesterday called that a "feeble" excuse, saying there was no reason why the nine letters spelling Newmarket could not be added to one of the existing overhead signs.

He said Transit had established a precedent for pointing to localities on overhead signs, including several which carry the name of SkyCity.

"We believe not having the word 'Newmarket' on State Highway 1 southbound is a much bigger potential hazard for visitors trying to navigate around our busy city."