Where are the Red Light Cameras?
Drivers running red lights at intersections seems to be a big problem in Auckland and as a pedestrian in the CBD especially, it doesn’t take long to see it happening. A few years ago a trial of red light cameras was initiated between the former Auckland City Council and the Police was met with stunning success in reducing this from occurring.…
24 Comments Concerns over the Te Atatu bus interchange
Last week we showed the plans for the new Te Atatu bus interchange that Auckland Transport are thinking of building. Its primary purpose is to support the new bus network which will see frequent buses serving both Te Atatu Rd and SH16, allowing passengers to transfer between services.…
City Rail Link video
Here’s Auckland Transport’s latest video about the City Rail Link project: This is useful for showing the route, but I still think some further visual material is necessary to get across some key messages which still seem to be regularly misinterpreted: The CRL is the “missing piece” in the whole rail network
The CRL will not operate anything like a “loop”
The CRL significantly benefits the whole of Auckland, not just the CBD I think the best way to show this would be for Auckland Transport to actually come up with some future route options – it seems like they must have advanced from what was in the City City Future Access Study (shown below) because the notice of requirement doesn’t include the Inner West Interchange and does include the East Facing Link. …
CRL in Parliament again
The CRL has been raised once again in Parliament with Green spokesperson Julie-Anne Genter questioning Gerry Brownlee on the CCFAS. A full transcript of it is here.
Gerry has clearly taken the first question very literally and his response was at least a little bit funny.…
Sprawl in the Northwest
Included as part of the release of the draft Unitary Plan is further information about options for where urban expansion might occur in the ‘greenfield areas of investigation’ that were highlighted by the Auckland Plan. There was some consultation on options in the south at the end of last year, but now it seems that some initial thinking has taken place over where urbanisation might happen in the northwest (Kumeu/Huapai/Whenuapai), Silverdale and Warkworth areas.…
Unitary Plan – further thoughts
The other day I outlined some of my initial thoughts on the Unitary Plan – noting that the zoning seems to be fairly bold but not necessarily supported by the more detailed development controls. This is to be expected to an extent, with the plan trying to find a delicate balance between providing for significant growth while ensuring that growth is undertaken in a fairly high quality manner.…
The hidden access ways of the CBD
When moving around the city, the shortest way from A to B is generally in a straight line. Sometimes though, following a straight line isn’t always easy due to obstacles like buildings so you have to work your way around them and the street network is generally designed to facilitate this movement. …
Urban Limits discussed in parliament
There have been quite a few battles in parliament between Housing Minister Nick Smith and Labour’s housing and Auckland issues spokesperson Phil Twyford over the past couple of weeks on the issue of urban limits, land supply and affordable housing. Here’s today’s stoush (transcript here): One thing that keeps confusing me in this argument is why everyone seems to be focusing so much on opening up additional land for rezoning to urban uses (effectively the “busting the urban limits”) when it seems like the real problem is that existing land zoned for urban development and serviced with main roads and bulk water/wastewater simply isn’t getting to the next stage of being subdivided up and put on the market.…
Train, Bus, Tram, or Camel?
We get a lot of conversations in our comments that boil down to expressions of preference for particular Transit modes depending on people’s experiences and values. Those who are most concerned about the cost of infrastructure tend to favour buses, and those who value the qualities that rail offers feel the generally higher capital costs are justified.…
Should Auckland continue to grow so much?
Reaction to the release of the Unitary Plan last Friday has been quite interesting – with yesterday’s NZ Herald article about proposed new growth in the rural parts of Auckland finally providing some balance from the “OMG skyscrapers everywhere” scaremongering. The “up or out” debates will surely continue for quite some time to come, and that’s fine, it’s an interesting and constructive debate over Auckland’s future.…
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