Yesterday marked the official start of the project to raise and massively widen the SH16 causeway. Here is the press release from the NZTA:
The Prime Minister, John Key, today turned the first spade of soil marking the official start of work on the NZ Transport Agency’s $220m upgrade of the Northwestern Motorway (State Highway 16) causeway in west Auckland.
The upgrade is one of six connected infrastructure projects to join the Northwestern and Southwestern (SH20) motorways as part of the Western Ring Route road of national significance to improve both city and North Island regional transport connections.
At this morning’s ceremony, Mr Key was joined by the Minister of Transport, Gerry Brownlee, Auckland Council and NZTA representatives, elders from Te Kawerau a Maki and Ngati Whatua and the Causeway Alliance responsible for the upgrade.
The 4.8km-long Causeway Upgrade Project will raise and widen the existing six-lane causeway and add extra lanes between Great North Road (Waterview) and Te Atatu interchanges. This will prevent flooding onto the motorway during extreme high tides and weather conditions.
“The Causeway Upgrade Project is one part of our programme of works to complete the Western Ring Route – a motorway alternative to SH1- that will have a significant impact for people driving in Auckland and for those driving through the city,” says the NZTA’s State Highways Manager for Auckland and Northland, Tommy Parker.
The projects that will link the two motorways are:-
- Maioro Street interchange upgrade (SH20) – completed
- Waterview Connection (SH20/16) – construction underway
- Causeway Project Upgrade (SH16) – construction officially underway today
- Lincoln Rd interchange upgrade (SH16) – construction underway
- Te Atatu Rd interchange upgrade – under tender
- St Lukes interchange upgrade (SH16) – seeking industry expressions of interest
“This is a massive amount of work and the challenge for the NZTA is to coordinate all these projects and have them completed by the time we plan to have traffic using the tunnels at Waterview at the end of 2016,” Mr Parker says.
The Causeway Upgrade Project is being constructed by the Causeway Alliance – made up of the NZTA, AECOM, Coffey, Fulton Hogan, Leighton Contractors and Sinclair Knight Merz – and it is scheduled to be completed in late 2016.
“The upgrade will improve travel times for commuters, freight and also bus users. We’re also aiming to keep the motorway open and flowing during peak times as we construct the project over the next three-and-a-half years.
“By raising the causeway 1.5 metres to prevent flooding onto the lanes we’ll create a safer and more reliable route for all road users,” says Mr Parker. “The result will be a more level surface, protected from the nearby marine reserve.”
Other key features include widening the motorway between the Whau River Bridge near Te Atatu and the Great North Road Interchange to four lanes citybound and four/five lanes westbound. Bus shoulder lanes will be extended and facilities improved for walkers and cyclists on the Northwestern shared path alongside the motorway.
The project team will be using special measures to reduce the impact on the Motu Manawa Pollen Island marine reserve beside the causeway. Data gathered from earlier trials last year will be used during construction to monitor the effects on birdlife and the environment.
Taupuni – the project’s temporary base has been set up in Te Atatu next to the pony club overlooking the harbour. Preparatory work has started and the work will stretch from the Whau River Bridge near Te Atatu to Waterview, including improvements to the Rosebank and Patiki interchanges.
Some lane layout changes are already in place on State Highway 16 including the priority lane at the Great North Road westbound on-ramp which has temporarily closed.
For more information about the project visit: www.nzta.govt.nz/sh16causeway
John Key’s twitter account posted this photo of the event.
Now the ceremonial turning of the first sod for a major project attracts politicians like moths to a flame and there were a couple of things that immediately struck me. First of all this project is obviously very much in Auckland yet there appears to be no sign of Len Brown. Perhaps he was busy or more likely I’m guessing that he wasn’t even invited which if it is the case, shows just how little respect the government holds towards the council (note: I asked Lens office but they didn’t reply).
Further you can understand both John Key and Gerry Brownlee being present but list MP Tau Henare who is based in Te Atatu was also quite clearly there. Yet neither of the two MPs whose electorates the project is actually in are there – the project is in the Mt Albert and Te Atatu electorates which are currently held by David Shearer and Phil Twyford. I’m guessing they definitely didn’t get invites to this event.
If you are interested in how the causeway is going to be raised and massively widened then these diagrams should help to explain it. With the inclusion of the bus lanes, will probably be the widest stretch of road in the country.
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There was a single, if memory serves me correctly, mention of Auckland Council and Auckland Transport during the speeches. Just the one. It was all about the government and how they are building efficient roads to move traffic on. Of note was the fact that the Causeway Alliance budget has resulted in a $50m saving over the original estimate for the project. Not bad.
Yeah but what has been cut to get those $50m in savings. I have been hearing reports that it is the PT elements that are suffering
I think most of the savings, from discussions during CLG meetings, have been due to cleverly building the causeway to the North rather than evenly across the corridor as originally proposed. The ‘enhanced shoulder lanes’ were always part of the proposal but ARTA and the WCC should have been pushing for a busway a long time ago. That they didn’t is beyond me. NZTA are building what the councils of the time asked for.
Auckland Transport has no ability to plan roading in the Auckland region, because the biggest roads of all (the motorways) are controlled by central government. It’s the motorways that grow traffic volumes, and all Auckland Transport can do is plan local roading to deal with the ever growing volumes to and from the motorways being generated by central government planners. This also determines urban planning. Auckland is simply not in control of how it develops. The belief that it is has only ever been an illusion.
Here is a what if. What if Auckland and the council refuse any further money’s towards motorway connections and the up keep/maintenance of said connections. These could appeal to the nationalists by claiming it to be keeping the rates down – after all road users pay for the roads from their RUC’s.
Maybe they could divert the savings into our rates, but better still into the CRL!
What if….
They don’t put any money towards motorway connections anyway so it wouldn’t make much difference.
As of now Geoff I think you’re correct but it wasn’t always that way. It used to be a partnership.
My understanding is that the savings came about through using a different ground improvement technique. The concept design did a bullet proof design that was inherently more expensive whereas the current design uses a cheaper method that should still do the same job.
From the last drawing, the project delivers an extra lane for trucks. Honest.
So eleven lanes. And what is the status the two outer ones? Permanent bus lanes, peak buslanes, shoulders, what?
And it seems NZTA are taking a bit of sea level rise into consideration even as their masters promote more auto-dependancy.
I’m sure they will tell you that the project will fix congestion and therefore result in less time stuck in traffic and hence reduce emissions. Basically they are saving the world here Patrick. I’m amazed the Green Party wasn’t there celebrating the start.
The outer lanes are bus shoulders. Interrupted at the interchanges, of course. But (minimally) better than before.
Of course during the several years of construction, it will be bus shoulders that get removed, not a general traffic lane. Such a wasted chance to get busess quicker through several years of construction pain…
“The upgrade will improve travel times for commuters, freight and also bus users” – Um how exactaly? Is the route straighter?
Because, just like EVERY OTHER BLODDY expensive motorway upgrade it’ll just go back to being just as congested as currently. The only question is HOW SOON?
is this project tacit acceptance of global warming and sea levels rising?
they did have to raise the road level on SH1 at Shoal Bay due to flooding risk
No I think it had been slowly sinking over the years. I also suspect they will need to raise SH1 through shoal bay eventually too. Probably hoping for the AWHC to tie it in with that.
The road is being lifted for a number of reasons, about 0.5m of which is related to climate change.
Based on the reports.
This is ridiculous 9 traffic lanes, 9, 9. Why did they not do a Northern Busway style buslanes here?
Glad they are raising it though.
It’s actually seven plus bus shoulders, six regular lanes, a westbound ‘weave’ lane to help traffic merge from Waterview/Great North Rd, and two safety shoulders that have been widened to properly support buses.
They didn’t do a Northern Busway style solution because at the time the project was planned neither the local nor regional councils had it on their plans, it was specifically not part of the RTN because the former ARC believed they needed to focus entirely on the Western Rail Line as the transit solution for all of West Auckland.
It’s pretty hard to blame NZTA for this outcome when they are doing exactly what the councils asked them to do.
Ok, I wasn’t aware of that.
Why is it shown as 9 traffic lanes plus the buses though?
Nick my understand was that the bus shoulders weren’t shoulders in the sense we are used to them now but are actually a proper width lane (that ends at each interchange)
The bus lanes are what NZTA refer to as ‘enhanced bus shoulder lanes’ which I guess means a full width lane that makes it comfortable for a bus to use. Where it will fall over is when
a) there is a car broken down in the lane as it also serves as the breakdown shoulder. Perhaps the Motorway traffic cars will have to be stationed there during peaks to forcibly move broken down cars like on Harbour bridge? and
b) the fact that buses need to merge at interchanges to get past traffic although this is mitigated by the On-Ramp lights. Perhaps there is a way to further enhance these to get priority for approaching buses?
Matt: Well yes, put another way they are proper bus lanes that double as the breakdown lane, although they still merge out at interchanges to facilitate ramp access.
Sailor Boy: You are right, it is shown as 9+ bus, I must be thinking about further upstream where it drops a lane each way.
Ok, hopefully just a really long merge lane which is good for safety in free flow conditions.
I sincerely hope that the lanes merge out on the off ramp like NB at Akoranga, not before the off ramp like Constellation SB.
Yep part of the reasoning for the extra lanes is that you need them for weaving as traffic comes out of the tunnel.
For the bus shoulders. Not only are they wider but they also shouldn’t flood during high intensity rainfall which normal shoulders are allowed to do.
+1 The Northern Express shoulder Lanes between Greville and Constellation are notorious for that.
I’d be interested in what practical steps were actually taken to minimise impact on the marine reserve. Whatever they are they will probably pale into insignificance compared to the impact of paving over a big chunk of it (which of course will be regarded as regrettable but so very necessary).
I remember seeing something suggesting that the environmental impact that the causeway has on the marine environment will actually get better as a result of the project. This is because at the moment there is nothing done to treat issues like water run off so at the moment all of the crap on the road surface (fuels, metals, rubber etc.) gets washed straight into the harbour. With this they will be adding in treatment so the water should be cleaner when it enters the harbour.
Yes, one reason for the width is they’ve put in a large passive filtering buffer zone with special grasses and plants that trap and filter runnoff. Apparently they looked at collecting and piping the runoff for active treatment, but that required even more impact on the waters edge.
That was in the concept design. The awarded design is different.
What is the awarded design doing?
It would be best I don’t comment on that sorry.
Yeah 9 is overkill. Even the southern motorway doesn’t have that in many parts. They should be making a separate busway like on the shore
“The upgrade will improve travel times for commuters, freight and also bus users. ”
Psst! Tommy! Bus users **are** commuters. Also please stop building additional capacity for unrestricted single occupant car use. It’s not an effective use of a finite resource since the capacity of a bus lane is so much greater.
Looks good. Can’t wait for this to be finished.
So despite all this width, all this work, and all this spending there is no way this route can qualify as an RTN
Correct, although I don’t think it would be that hard to upgrade it with some clever work. I think there needs to be some more planning for how the western bus line will operate. After all, stopping along GNR once off the motorway slows the entire trip down and there are already a lot of buses along that route. Why not have the western buses get on / off at St Lukes with some kind of interchange there to feed Unitec / Pt chev etc? Actually, there is a piece of land between Waterview and St Lukes that would make a great interchange spot – http://goo.gl/maps/dJs7c
Nice spot, looks like a good place for an interchange need to buy those 4 or 5 properties out for access and could have a really good sation.
Hopefully it won’t be hard, but it’s just a typical New Zealand half pie project without a full busway. While some upgrades to prevent further subsidence of the road may have been needed, really with a full two lane busway there would be no need for additional traffic lanes.
I would like to know where all the fill for the embankment is coming from? Is it from the Western Route road tunnelling.? May be we could give the CRL some priority and use the spoil from there also. At first glance it looks Sooooooooo wide.
“It’s pretty hard to blame NZTA for this outcome when they are doing exactly what the councils asked them to do.”
I suggest to the contrary – it is very easy to blame NZTA. For goodness sake, they are a transport agency responsible presumably for achieving the best outcomes regardless of what ideas are put forward. Are you suggesting that NZTA only does what Coucils want of them? If that were the case wouldn’t the CRL almost be finished by now?
And NZTA claims that they support multi-modal solutions not just highway building. Having only a partial public transport route, re-merging at every intersection and sharing the lane with breakdowns means that this is not a multi-modal solution, despite upgrades to the cycleway.
I’ve said it a few times before but, upgrading this section to a full busway would cost a huge amount of money and provide very little benefit.
The section where the buses have trouble is the 5km trip along great north road where they have to stop at signals, mix with general traffic and get stuck behind cyclists or other buses.
Just upgrading the great north road intersection with the east facing motorway ramps would give a greater benefit than a short $200 million busway from waterview to TeAtatu.
Until recently, councils had some say over what projects got funded (Northern busway). This seems to have changed and indeed, the National government seem intent on removing pretty much any major decision making ability from local councils. Effectively, the ARC and WCC were intent on buses from the NW travelling along Lincoln Rd to the Henderson Train station so that commuters could use the trains. This is why there is no busway being built.
Effectively, the ARC and WCC were intent on buses from the NW travelling along Lincoln Rd to the Henderson Train station so that commuters could use the trains.””
That sounds like a case of ideology over common sense. I am guessing it was the same group of people who decided to rekindle the rail network as well – how sound was that decision?
Well your part right, I think they basically said lets just connect each of the major councils with an RTN line so the North had the busway, the south had the rail line, the east had a mix of rail and bus (AMETI) and the west also had a rail line. West to North was a busway from Henderson to Albany. That of course ignored that SH16 existed was the quickest way from the north west.
As for the decision to rekindle the rail network, I think it was a sound one and as mentioned in other posts. Rail has been performing better than expected so far.
Yes. There was an assumption that only one RTN out west would be needed and they sensibly went for the already existing if underinvested in and underperforming one. Clearly this was their mistake. The West and the North West are two different and fast growing areas that both need serving by proper RTNs. However when looking back it is important to understand just how much scorn and disbelief there was [and still remains in some quarters] in powerful places about the idea of of pretty much any need whatsoever for Public Transport in Auckland. In this context two RTN routes in what looks like pretty much the same area [especially to people who only know Remuera] would look laughable.
Furthermore NZTA have had this idea upgraded for the entire period that they have been preparing to build along this route; institutional inertia and government directive have caused them to drag their heels on this. Shame, what a lost opportunity to provide a real multi-modal future-proofed route that would do much to confound criticism from the likes of us at this blog about the wisdom of blowing so much on motorways!
I still remember ‘discussions’ I had with people over the idea of Britomart in the late 90’s. Heck, there were even people who thought getting Perth’s old cast-off’s was a terrible idea (trains? no one uses the train). Even today most people fail to comprehend how the ‘new’ network will work and cannot accept that Park’n’rides won’t be required.
That’s the problem with ideology over a single mode as opposed to a balanced view on how best to utilise the assets – including corridors. Rail makes sense to Swanson but does it make sense to Kumeu? Is a busway from Waimauku, along the NW to downtown a better alternative? It doesn’t rule out a rail line to Kumeu via the NW which makes sense from a overall distance point of view.
No, I’m suggesting NZTA build and widen state highways, and only do busways and the like in partnership with local government.
Could a sky train type arrangement not be added subsequently given that this has been so transformational for Vancouver?
Of course it could, and I think the best way to get there is to have the bus lanes rocking and rolling in the near term.
Would this skytrain go all the way downtown?
Thanks Nick, I am feeling better already. First that I have sent a clear message that I don’t think that your project is as great as you think it is; and most importantly, never mind your mistake we can come behind you and with relative ease fix it up!
so now the buslane will be gone!!! then it will add with the buses to be stuck with the busy traffic too.
not to worry about not enough money, there will probably enough speed camera every day to ensure they snapped people who do 100km/h on that 80km/h section, and of course they will hide themselves behind those temporary lane barrier!!!
Jacky, why would you want to travel on a bus that won’t even have a fully dedicated bus lane, over a train? (light metro) And what happens to that bus when it meets city congestion? I ride a bus every day and every day I wonder why in a city this size things are so bad. I should note that I lived in a city of only 350,000 that had a very adequate train system for many areas -it was unfortunate that it worked so poorly, but little or no maintenance has that effect. (yes it was Wellington)
As a rate payer and tax payer this failed scheme our so called economically savvy government has embarked upon should be held up as to why National have no idea. Keys goofy grin with the other clueless “dignitaries” digging up a bit more land to waste on a motorway speaks volumes. I assume he is laughing at the sheer stupidity of the idea, the council and the voters.
Now 9 or 11 lanes, the classic failed solution to the symptom and not the cause. When it blocks again are we going to through more money down the toilet to make 15 lanes or 20 lanes The waste of money both in construction and maintenance is a disgrace, we have history showing us this.
While they were at it why not add rail lines to one side to connect to the Western line around Mt Albert – Avondale, to take commuters to an interchange at Te Atatu and Lincoln Rd for starters. It doesn’t require a new harbour bridge like the North Shore or vast swathes of land, just additional civil engineering. Of course this is an alternative to the motor car and an alternative to endless motorway construction so stupid really.
“While they were at it why not add rail lines to one side to connect to the Western line around Mt Albert – Avondale, to take commuters to an interchange at Te Atatu and Lincoln Rd for starters. It doesn’t require a new harbour bridge like the North Shore or vast swathes of land, just additional civil engineering. Of course this is an alternative to the motor car and an alternative to endless motorway construction so stupid really.”
A new line from Massey, connecting with the western line at Mt Albert and then following along side waterview down to Mt Roskill perhaps?
Develop Mt Albert in to a transfer station
I thought the causeway cycleway was originally proposed to be widened to 4m (like the SH20 waterview segment proposal).
I see it shown as 3m wide on the current plans, with areas that have fence each side & no run off.
Not much of an improvement. An example of cost cutting?
6 SH20 lanes + 6 existing SH16 lanes = 9 new SH16 lanes?
Isn’t this going to end up being another traffic bottleneck, like SH20-SH1?
That’s why there are the extra lanes and why they drop off at each interchange. The 20 to 1 issue was that about 8 lanes merged into 2 with nowhere for the traffic to go.
Thought it was 6 into 2, but agreed.
I was including the local road on-ramps as well.
St Lukes Rd interchange is going to be clogged to hell. It’s the only place between Rosebank and the City north of Mt Roskill where you can actually get to or from the new motorway.
Thats why the extra lane each way is being extended through to St Lukes, they are also replacing St Lukes road bridge with a 6 lane one along with new pedestrain, cyclist and bus provisions.
They are even building a really wide shoulder heading west so that they can convert it to 5 lanes if need be, although they are starting off at 4 to try and avoid inducing to much demand.
The cycleway will be 3m wide generally – though generally with at least 0.5m extra clearance each side. The SH20 waterview cycleway has no consent requirements as to its width (partially because it isn’t consented yet – the consent only specified that NZTA had to pay 8 million for it), only that it has to be to Austroads standards. In practice that means 3m minimum.
Re causeway cycleway design, they have moved some parts of it onto the actual motorway bridges where before it was on separate bridges and have replaced one cycleway bridge – at Rosebank Road – with a cycleway underpass (apparently a rather good one – over 8m wide for security reasons, and it makes sure you don’t have to ride up onto the bridge and back down). Both of these changes were mostly because they are cheaper as I understand, but didn’t result in reduced provision for cyclists.
An important issue for bus-lanes is will there be one provided at the Great North Road interchange, as this is where all buses enter/exit motorway. The plan I saw showed 4 lanes exiting westbound at Pt Chev (!!!!!) but not one of them a bus lane.
A real life example of a road connection servicing a motorway – ONEWA Rd on Auckland’s North shore. Could have the council with hold all opex towards this road. Pot holes would start swalling freight trucks – yes looking at Chelsea sugar works. Lets just try this and watch George scream like a banshy! It’d be fun!