Just what could a new Harbour Crossing look like
I have had a brief look at a few of the documents surrounding the release of the latest harbour crossing study and came across a few images of what a new bridge may look like.
First a top down view: Looks like things get pretty messy at each side where the bridge lands, so lets look at those a bit closer up, here’s the St Marys Bay side (sorry its a bit fuzzy) Wow the residents of St Marys Bay are not going to like this at all, they seem to want to extend the mess that is the CMJ right down to the waterfront and they seem to forget the whole point of the Victoria Park Tunnel was to try to minimise the impacts the motorway had on the area.…
27 Comments 2010 PT Patronage – a spectacular year
Well it was a bit like getting blood out of a stone, but finally Auckland Transport has released full patronage information up to January 2011, broken down by bus, train and ferry. Helpfully, regular commenter Luke managed to get historical patronage data dating all the way back to 2002 off Auckland Transport – which probably provides us with the fullest and most helpful data I’ve come across yet.…
How should North Shore Rail work?
Following on from yesterday’s post about the question of when we might need to think about rail to Auckland’s North Shore, there’s also an interesting question of where it should go and what form it should take. The Passenger Transport Report that accompanies the Harbour Crossing documents looks at this issue in some detail.…
When might we need North Shore Rail?
Hidden among the vast number of ‘roads-mad’ documents that form the review of options for a future harbour crossing is one document that provides us with more of an insight into North Shore rail that we’ve probably ever seen before. In this post I will look at the issue of when might we need to introduce a North Shore railway line, while in a future post I will consider the matter of what form that rail link might take (ie.…
Video: the role of rail in Auckland
It took a bit of searching, but I have found the video played today at the launch of the spatial plan: on the role of rail in Auckland’s future. It is pretty awesome.…
Auckland Plan launched
I spent most of today at the launch of the Auckland spatial plan. Somewhat oddly (although understandably I suppose) the actual plan wasn’t released until right at the end of the day, and most of the day was spent exploring some of the ideas people have about what should be in various aspects of the plan.…
The false assumption
Even though the cost-benefit ratio of both bridge (0.6) and tunnel (0.4) options for providing an additional crossing of the Waitemata are pathetically low, I actually think they’re an over-estimate. This is due to the same false assumption that afflicts the analysis of all future roading projects:
That traffic numbers will keep rising
If you have a look through the business case for the harbour crossings, the main justification is that – supposedly – traffic volumes will continue to rise dramatically across the harbour bridge into the future, and therefore we will need more lanes in the form of another crossing.…
Auckland Council: just as bad as the government when it comes to transport?
There are a lot of plans being talked about at the moment, none more so than the “Auckland Spatial Plan”, which is due to be launched later today. But another plan, that has so far very much flown ‘under the radar’, is the 2011/2012 draft annual plan – which is open for consultation until April 1st.…
Can we afford $4-6 billion for another harbour crossing?
A few days ago I showed a plan of the proposed alignments of a future Harbour Crossing: including a rail tunnel, a road tunnel and a road bridge alignment. This is included below, to refresh your memories:
The full reports by NZTA are online and can be found here.…
Rod Oram on the Spatial Plan
Sunday Star Times business columnist Rod Oram wrote an excellent piece in yesterday’s paper about the Auckland Spatial Plan, which – in the form of a discussion document – is due for release this coming Wednesday.
Looking first at the importance of the Spatial Plan, I have had discussions with a number of people who wonder whether this will be “just another policy document” that ends up as a door-stop – much like many previous plans and policies.…
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