Looking at the CBD’s car & bus capacity
Many of the debates over the City Rail Link’s cost-effectiveness have revolved around the question of rail capacity. At what point does the railway network, without the CRL, become overloaded? How many people will be discouraged from taking the train because of this overcrowding?…
9 Comments Tolling the Harbour Bridge
Everyone knows that the price tag for a future harbour crossing is eye-watering. For a tunnel option (which really is the only option in my opinion) we’re looking at something north of $5 billion – which is significantly more expensive than any other project we’ve ever seriously considered (over twice the price of the City Rail Link, for example).…
Vic Park Tunnel – causing traffic jams
It’s tempting to be amused by the various stories that have emerged this week about the new Victoria Park Tunnel causing huge congestion. The obvious amusing argument to make is that, just like we saw with the opening of the SH20-SH1 Manukau Connection, the opening of a motorway has just shifted the congestion or – in this case – actually created an even worse problem than we used to have.…
Parnell Station’s design details emerge
For a number of months I’ve felt rather uneasy about the proposed Parnell Station. On the one hand I think a station in the vicinity of Parnell makes a lot of sense – particularly one that could serve the university. But on the other hand I have been worried whether the actual proposed location for the station misses the golden opportunity for it to become a de facto university station.…
Strong support for better public transport
It’s no real mystery that providing better public transport has a lot of support among the general public. Firstly we saw Len Brown’s mayoral victory last year, with much of his support due to his push for making a “transformational shift” to Auckland’s rail system in particular.…
Traffic falling in the USA too
One of the most interesting things to note when it comes to transport trends over the past few years is the complete lack in growth of state highway traffic volumes since around 2005, with a little bumping around we actually find ourselves with the same level of traffic on our state highways in 2010 as we had in 2005: It’s perhaps a bit early to comprehensively know whether this is a short-term “bucking” of the long-term trend of inexorable growth – or something more permanent.…
National proposing more RoNS
National released their transport policy yesterday, with the headline proposal being to add in more “Roads of National Significance”. Here’s what the accompanying media release stated:
National has re-committed to its major $9 billion investment unblocking key roading arteries around the country, and will develop the strategy further by examining new routes that need upgrading to improve our economic growth and productivity, says National’s Transport spokesman Steven Joyce.…
Why Council needs to prioritise
Much of what I’ve said about the Auckland Council’s draft Spatial Plan – especially as it relates to transport matters – has been to point out that the Council needs to be more ruthless in how it prioritises transport projects. The impact of this need to prioritise has been highlighted with the Council put on negative watch for its credit rating:
International credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is getting the jitters about Mayor Len Brown’s ambitious transport plans and warned of a credit downgrade from AA to AA-.…
Comparing the City Rail Link with Puhoi-Wellsford
Interest in comparing the Puhoi-Wellsford “holiday highway” with the City Rail Link has, unsurprisingly, risen in the past few weeks with Labour and now the Greens both promising to scrap the Puhoi-Wellsford road to help pay for the rail project. The debate is obviously causing a bit of consternation with the government, as David Farrar’s Kiwiblog has weighed into the debate with an interestingly well researched post on comparing the two projects:
Labour and the Greens refer to the the proposed Puhoi to Wellsford SH1 upgrade as the Holiday Highway.…
A good Herald editorial
I must say I was rather shocked this morning to find an editorial in the NZ Herald on transport matters that I agreed with to such a great extent. Typical editorialist John Roughan, with his “Auckland wants to sprawl” and “Auckland should pay for the City Rail Link if we really want it” (not that I disagree there, our petrol taxes should help pay for it, but I don’t think that’s what he means) must have been away because I can’t ever recall seeing such a strongly pro public transport editorial.…
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