The battle over the Puhoi-Wellsford “holiday highway” seems to be heating up, after route announcements earlier this week for the Puhoi to Warkworth section. One interesting thing that was left off the 3D video of the proposal was any interchange to allow locals to access the new road from Puhoi and Mahurangi. This has been a highly controversial issue, with the locals feeling that Puhoi will die economically if it doesn’t have access to the new road. There’s an article in today’s Herald that suggests NZTA are leaving the decision up to the Auckland Council over whether there should or shouldn’t be an interchange:
Government transport officials are promising to take their lead from the Auckland Council when deciding whether to provide Puhoi residents with access to a proposed $1.65 billion highway to Wellsford.
The Transport Agency sparked an outcry from the Puhoi and nearby Mahurangi West communities in June when it announced they were unlikely to gain a direct connection with the 38km dual carriageway.
But although an access point was not shown on a preferred route announced on Wednesday, agency northern director Stephen Town said a decision had yet to be made and would depend on the Auckland Council’s land-use aspirations.
He confirmed to the Herald yesterday the agency would make the final decision, but added: “We are going to take considerable notice of what the Auckland Council’s plans for that part of Auckland might be.”
I’m somewhat divided on that particular matter – as on the one hand I definitely understand the concerns of the residents, but on the other hand I’m worried that giving that area too much access to Auckland could encourage urban sprawl. But really, the issue of interchange or no interchange is something of a distraction. The real question should be whether we need th new motorway at all?
Mike Lee’s comments in the Herald remind us of the primary issue here:
Auckland Council transport committee chairman Mike Lee said the official view was still one of opposition to the highway.
He said that position, inherited from the former regional council which he also chaired, was based on a preference for upgrading the existing State Highway 1 “quickly and economically, saving funds for the CBD loop [inner Auckland rail tunnel]”.
But he added that the policy was that, if the road went ahead, it would be “appropriate that the existing access to Puhoi is protected”.
Mr Town said earlier that the agency did not believe the existing route, which includes the difficult and dangerous Schedewys Hill and Dome Valley sections, could be widened enough for the efficient movement of people and goods required by the Government.
But Mr Lee said no business case had been established for what he still derides as “the holiday highway”.
“It has come out of political motivations.”
Eventually the new Auckland Council is going to have to take a position on the project and I think the position they take will be critical in determining whether the project proceeds or not. While technically NZTA could rush ahead regardless of what the Council says, I struggle to think of a situation where a motorway has been imposed against a Council’s will. Len Brown in particular will no longer be able to sit on the fence – particularly as there’s a massive connection between whether this project goes ahead and whether the CBD Rail Tunnel goes ahead (I struggle to see how both can be funded).
Mayors in Northland are starting to get a bit jumpy about the increased opposition to the project, as another Herald article reported today:
Speaking with the backing of Whangarei Mayor Morris Cutforth and Kaipara Mayor Neil Tiller, Far North Wayne Mayor Brown said the extension was absolutely essential to the future growth of the region.
“There are rumblings from Super City Mayor Len Brown about the estimated $1.3 billion for the extension being better spent on Auckland’s rail system, and we’re here to tell him, and the Government, ‘no way, it’s not on and we won’t allow it’,” Mr Brown said.
“The motorway extension is another step on the way to connecting Northland with the rest of New Zealand – it’s hugely important to our future in terms of economic and social development and it’s much, much more than the ‘holiday highway’ some people like to call it.”
Wayne Brown said Northland’s three mayors represented all sectors of their communities, including the economic sector, and Northland was an exporter, unlike Auckland.
“We’re not happy with the cuts that have already been made to our road funding up here in order to feed Auckland’s, insatiable transport needs,” he said. “These reductions have come at a time when our forestry and dairy exports are booming and our roads are taking a hammering – the last thing we need is to be further disadvantaged.”
Wayne Brown said Aucklanders would benefit from the extension in any event because they flocked to Northland in summer and added to the pressure on already inadequate Northland roads.
Firstly, it’s somewhat ironic that Wayne Brown gets annoyed by people calling the project “the holiday highway” but then himself says that Aucklanders will benefit from the project during holiday times.
The thing that confuses me about the whole issue is why Northland thinks that the project will make such a transformative difference to their economic that it’s worth the enormous price tag? An article in yesterday’s Herald quotes NZTA officials outlining the costs and benefits of the Puhoi-Warkworth section:
The Puhoi-Warkworth stage is expected to cost about $980 million, leaving $670 million for the 20km Wellsford leg, for which construction is due to start in 2016.
Principal project director Brett Gliddon said the new route would replace the sharp bends of the existing road, and shave five to seven minutes off trips between Warkworth and Auckland.
$980 million to save between five and seven minutes. That seems a lot of money for a pretty small gain. I also struggle to see how shaving five to seven minutes off travel time between Warkworth and Auckland is going to revolutionise Northland’s economy. We should remember what an SKM Report in 2008 said about the impact of such a road on regional economic development:
So really, I struggle to see the big benefits of this project. Furthermore, with the current dangerous state of the road surely you would think that the mayors would want immediate safety upgrades to the route – rather than waiting 10 years for the full motorway to be finished, and then probably only for those willing to pay a pretty steep toll.
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The thing that really annoyed me about the article today from the Northland mayors was the instance that Auckland is swallowing all of the transport funds when we already don’t get our fair share and that Auckland doesn’t need a CBD tunnel because if we just go school kids on buses there would be no congestion. This shows a complete lack of understanding of the city, its needs and what is happening nationally. On the second point part of the reason school holiday traffic is less is because a lot of parents also take that time off to look after the kids, also during the last school holidays I was having to drive someone to work and back, traffic was only marginally better in the morning peak and just as bad during the evening peak.
What annoys me is the statement that Auckland isn’t an exporter and therefore deserves nothing. Auckland is the centre of the manufacturing sector in NZ, just because we don’t export primary products doesn’t mean we don’t export.
Joyce will just use those mayors as cheerleaders. I’m not going to say he has bribed them, but lets just say that rural NZ prefers National, and vice versa (why, I don’t understand – I do not think National has their best interests at heart).
So all those mayors like the idea of 50 people dying on State Highway 1 over the next 12 years as Joyce builds himself a monument instead of fixing the safety problems.
How charming of them.
I’ve said it before here but this is exactly an example of the increasingly big disconnect between provincial NZ and Auckland. It is hard for people in Whangarei or Christchurch or Hastings can accept that Auckland has different problems and needs different solutions to what they face. Expect anger and outrage and this will be stoked and encouraged by the Minister for Trucking…. 5 minutes quicker will do nothing for Northland. 2 BiIllion wasted, and they’re fighting for it because it is the only thing they’re offered. They figure that that’s better than 2 Billion spent in AK’s CBD, cause if it isn’t spent on this highway it isn’t going to be spent anywhere else near Northland [like maintenance of the rail line and extension to the port]. So this is why Joyce loves to have it both ways: this is both in Auckland [look we are spending millions in your region already] and on the way to Northland [so selfish that we don’t want to help our rural friends]. Brilliant. I’m not saying they thought this out, they’re much less subtle than that, but they won’t let the opportunity to play up their ‘we just being reasonable and even handed’ as well as champions of the provinces against the big evil wasteful selfish urban Auckland.
lol Wayne Brown says we don’t need the CBD loop we just need to “put more kids on school buses”. What a freakin yokel. Yeah righto Cleatus, way to stick to them thar city slickers that wants to take all yur money fur them roads and somesuch.
Freakin yokel. LOL.
Well said, Patrick R. Divide and conquer.
I have no evidence for this [sorry Obi] but it is my guess that Joyce and co have already extracted a deal out of KiwiRail to close both Northland and Napier-Gisborne as the price of that recent investment. So it is just a question of timing, with the election next year, they keep testing the water around this, and will be sure that it is KR that appears to be doing it, all very regretfully. The reasoning will all be financial: decades of deferred maintenance will be presented as a near term cost against operating income; Oh dear look how ‘uneconomic’ these silly nostalgic railways are …. So under the ‘always follow the money rule’ who benefits? Big trucking. Who looses? Well the closure of these lines will kill people, those extra truck movements are a disaster for the roads and other road users lives. What else? A disaster for the country’s infrastructure stock and transport security, for choice [isn’t that interesting?], and of course for emissions, oil use, and carbon spewing. It is also just a plain wreaking of some of our hard-won family silver.
Given that every move this govt. makes just happens to support and subsidise road freight and penalise and downgrade any other option what are we to conclude? And why the haste Steveo? It looks very much like someone on a mission to commit the country to a very particular path, all but irreversibly in about two terms of government…. Such a shame the last government dithered despite nine years of surpluses.
Its only 30k of road. Northland must have 1000s of kms of substandard road surfaces. Going to make 2/5ths of stuff contribution towards fixing their economic problems.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. I mean a lot of roads in Northland are not even sealed. I’m sure $1.65 billion spread more thinly would make a much better economic impact in Northland than the Holiday Highway could.
According to a recent QWA. Kiwirail will start consulting on whether or not to close Northland to Auckland sometime early next year.
I pretty much agree with the analysis that Norhtland just wants this funding because they’ve been offered it… It’s not like the govt often decides to put substantial sums in Northland so it’s unsurprising they would go for whatever they can get.