Last week I talked about Penlink and how it appears that it is back on the agenda and being pushed ahead fairly rapidly. This has also been partially confirmed by this listing on the Auckland Transport tenders site.
This Request for Proposal (RFP) is issued for Auckland Transport (AT). The aim of this process is to award a Contract for supply of Planning Professional Services to implement the Penlink Planning Strategy to successfully complete an alteration to the designation and obtain all required consents. This will involve the use of other professional services skills including design, project management and technical experts which are to be provided and managed by the Planning Consultant.
So with this post I thought I would look at some of the alternatives that should be done first – and the impacts properly assessed before committing to building Penlink. Like we have suggested with the East-West link and Operation Lifesaver the focus is on a series of smaller upgrades that can likely be done significantly quicker and cheaper than what is currently planned. Further some of these projects are already on the drawing board so aren’t actually new.
Firstly the primary areas of development that are going to occur in the area in the future is not so much on the peninsula but in the areas closer to SH1 in and around the Silverdale North area. As you can see in this Unitary Plan map there is a heap of land set aside for housing (cream), business (purple) as well as future urban (yellow). It’s this development that will really put a lot of pressure on the Hibiscus Coast Highway (HCH) between Whangaparaoa Rd and the Silverdale interchange.
So with that in mind the focus should be on addressing how we can avoid putting too much pressure on that section of the HCH. Here are a series of projects that could do that.
Wainui Ramps
I understand this has been talked about for some time but the idea is fairly simply, Wainui Rd travels through the south western part of the Silverdale North area before crossing the motorway just over halfway between the Silverdale and Grand Drive interchanges. The idea is to create a set of south facing ramps and therefore providing a more direct connection to SH1 for the Silverdale North area. That would remove the need for many of the future residents to travel down to use the Silverdale Interchange. It would also help in serving that large section of Future Urban land to the west of SH1.
East Coast Rd and Curley Rd Extension
Again this is something that has been talked about for a while but the idea is to extend Curley Rd – a small stub road – to the east and eventually connecting up with Wainui Rd south of where the ramps mentioned above would be. An extension of East Coast Rd to the north across the Wheti River would then connect in with the Curley Rd extension. The idea is to create a connection allowing for traffic going north-south from one side of the HCH to the other to do so in a single crossing without having to use the HCH for part of the journey (other than a single intersection). The rough idea for these two roads is shown in the map below with the new road in red.
Whangaparaoa Rd Upgrades
Whangaparaoa Rd is generally a single lane road for most of its length except for a short section for about 1.5km west and south of the intersection with Red Beach Rd. A previous review of Penlink in 2010 found that while not a substitute for Penlink, widening the section between Red Beach Rd and the HCH would relieve congestion and push back the need for the expensive capital investment that would needed to build Penlink.
My understanding is that this widening was planned to happen fairly soon but has now been put on hold until a new decision on Penlink has been made.
Of course these are all road upgrades, what about some PT upgrades? To me there are two things that should be considered – probably together. First though what is current happening with PT in the area.
AT are going to be building a busway station and park n ride at Silverdale. I believe that stage one which includes access roads and the first 100 or so car parks has been built however stage two which includes the station itself has now been delayed by potentially up to a year. This is due to a neighbouring land owner who has fought the development all the way now seeking a judicial review by the high court. Assuming that eventually falls in AT’s favour then the station can be built and some Northern Express services extended Silverdale. Connecting in will be local services which I will talk about soon. At the other end of the peninsula is the Gulf Harbour ferry. So what could we do?
Improve Local Bus Services
Like most of Auckland the current bus services appear to be a shambles and the maps are hard to read. The new network proposes a much simpler network for the area.
However a key issue that will remain is the frequency of those services with the RPTP suggesting that they will only be half hourly during the peak and hourly off peak. At the very least we should consider what the cost would be to increase the frequency of the green route to be every 15 minutes during the peak and half hourly off peak. That would likely help a lot in making the system much more usable and is unlikely to cost massive amounts of money. Likewise the service to Gulf Harbour might need improving to go with some improved ferries.
Ferries
The current ferry service is only any use for commuters travelling to the CBD during the peak. For commuters there are only two sailings towards the CBD in the morning (7:00 & 7:30) and two back again in the evening (4:40 & 5:35). Along with increased connector bus services, investing in improving the ferry service should be considered. That would likely require the investment in new ferries and would obviously cost a lot more to run that what exists now however the costs need to be considered in relation to what we would be paying for Penlink. Remember the talk is now that it will be built as a PPP which means we will be paying for the project out of operational budgets for the following 25 years. The cost of running some extra bus and ferry services is probably less than the amount we would be paying just to cover the private company’s interest bill.
So there we go a series of projects that would help in addressing some of the direct traffic problems in the area. I’m not sure how much it would all cost but is almost certainly a lot less than what is planned for Penlink which could now be more than $200m yet only make a difference of about ~7000 vehicles a day. It doesn’t mean Penlink might not be needed in the future but does help address things for the short to medium term.
Processing...
Great post Matt. My suspicion is that by making much of the Millwater development dependent upon building Penlink, the former Rodney District Council just wanted to hold everyone to ransom so the project got built.
You are dead right there’s important work to do so that at the very least Penlink can be pushed back to post 2025 or 2030. It’s just not a regional priority once the area said no to intensification.
Yes you are quite right when you say that the old RDC wanted to make other development dependant of Penlink when there are clearly other ways of addressing the issues that the development creates.
Fantastic post Matt. Very to the point and highlighting that yes, roads are still required, but there is no need to go overboard. And also that PT should be part of any major road project planning, not an afterthought.
To paraphrase: this is road-building smarter, not harder.
On-peak buses aren’t as big a shambles as you suggest. They’re frequent, accessible and fairly reliable – reliability only being stretched when drivers are late (which is far too often unrelated to traffic/unforeseeable circumstances, just plain lateness).
A bit more courtesy from local drivers when getting out onto Whangaparaoa Road at Brightside Road it’d be pretty plain sailing. Agree the stretch of Wgp Rd from Red Beach lights to Silverdale needs to be double laned – a major bottleneck.
One of the issues in streamlining traffic flow off the Peninsula is Silverdale. It’s been allowed to develop into a retail hub with very little sensible planning. From Wgp Rd you have the main lights at the Northern Arena, a major intersection at the old Silverdale shops, lights at East Coast Bays rd, and yet more lights at the rugby club/park & ride. Traffic can’t flow with all that disruption and it will only get worse as the retail centre fills out.
I heard a rumour once that Wgp Rd was going to be extended through to where the bridge crosses the motorway at Wainui. This could be the fast flowing alternative route to get from Peninsula to motorway as long as they don’t jam it up with major retailers requiring more traffic lights.
Barry, one of the issues is the development that has been allowed to occur on the peninsula. It is not Silverdale that is affecting the Peninsula, more the development on the peninsula itself. As for Whangaparoa Rd being extended to Wainui, forget that. There is already an overbuild mini highway dividing the shopping centre and the houses across the road. Adding more traffic would make it worse not better. Through traffic does not have more rights than local traffic.
TBH most of these projects do not help residents of the peninsula (aside from the road widening) so its a bit moot to add these here (I still think these are worthy projects for the new developments however).
In addition road widening always costs quite a lot so the difference so I don’t think the difference between the cost of Penlink and the road widening is going to be that much and considering the significantly greater benefits of Penlink (for all modes), I think its better to just build Penlink and not do the widening.
The PT improvements look great though don’t ferry services (especially long distance ones) cost a lot to operate?
At the end you say Penlink should maybe be built in the future. Well in the previous post you said there wasn’t much population growth so why wait. Better to build Penlink now and save money on the other projects you listed above rather than do both. Especially as infrustructure projects always end up costing more over time.
No way widening the road between Red Beach lights and Silverdale will cost as much as Penlink. Impossible. I’d love to see your cost breakdown of both.
“The PT improvements look great though don’t ferry services (especially long distance ones) cost a lot to operate?”
Not necessarily, it depends on the specifics. They can often be commercially profitable, like the Waiheke ferry.
In any case, would it cost more than 25 years of PPP payments on Penlink?
Good comments there Nick on the ferries. The speed differential should be enough so that a decent premium can be charged for the ferries for those premium peak runs, with prices dropping back for the off-peak services.
I have always thought that for the ferries in particular, in the niche, strategic role they perform, peak runs really should be able to be fully commercial. Maybe then use some of the money otherwise spent on PPP payments to subsidise the off-peak runs. For the Halfmoon Bay ferry, AT have made a big effort to try to have distributor feeder buses from the ferry terminal. I wonder how successful they have been, and whether there is potential to duplicate that model on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.
The other thing, is that I suspect the ferries that Fullers operate are not the most fuel efficient they could be. All really worth further study in comparison to Penlink, and upgraded and extended Northern Busway options.
Cycle Action Auckland was involved in making sure that the 4-laning or Whangaparao Road didn’t end up in a severely sub-standard rush job. Basicallt, AT was proposing to four-lane a 60 km/h road, endangering cyclists and “providing” for them
http://caa.org.nz/auckland-transport/interim-success-for-whangaparaoa-road/
Looking forward to Penlink, as lots of people on the peninsula are for many reasons. For the emergency senario you can’t have one way in and out of a well populated area which according to you has not got much more growth to do but on top of the big fairway bay development there is all the infill development which is much more than you think, you don’t even show the many thousands of those houses over the next 20 yrs. Also for emergency services with lots of older people headed that direction they need better access to hospitals. Roads like this are built all the time to ease the growth and help the spread of population… like it or not stillwater will be swallowed up sooner or later and will need this project to feed into. People on Waiheke pay $100 more a month to get to the city on the ferries than from gulf harbour, the more ferries put on this coming march at gulf harbour is great but you will see more growth from this much faster hence they had better put the road in sooner than later. Either that or spend as much widening the road as well as the problems at the silverdale end. Another thing we have noticed is the mall at manly has been hit hard for local retailers due to people stopping at silverdale to shop….put penlink in and it brings the life back into the local manly area because people will not be stopping at silverdale as they won’t be going out of their way to go to silverdale!
Penlink will make them more likely to visit Albany instead. Face it, you moved to a peninsula and you don’t like the long drive along Whangaparoa Rd. I timed 22 minutes to get from the marina to the old SH1 intersection at Silverdale. This was on a normal, off peak day.
In my view, penlink should be 2x vehicle lanes and 2 x full time PT lanes and extend this right to the Northern motorway where there would be an interchange. And then residents should be ready to accept medium rise development.
Penink is a effectively a small town wanting $200 million spent on a new road to serve them. Should we build a $200 million road to make it 5 minutes quicker to get to Ashburton, Whakatane, Levin or Masterton?
This is nothing to do with forgetting about small parts of Auckland, people are wanting something way out of proportion with their size. Would never get it without super city, though I bet they will blame that if Penlink isn’t built.
Sure small towns get upgrades and new roading infrastructure, the eastern link is costing 455 million which will cut 20 minutes off the trip to Whakatane from Papamoa not to mention cutting out Te puke completely, the peninsula will have over 20 thou people and growing faster soon as well as Stillwater as that gets swallowed up by progress. We will use it and happily pay like all the people we talk to.
Well we don’t agree with the Tauranga Eastern costing that much either, an improved rail link would have taken many of the trucks and solved the issue for a few million a year. However that is a a major state highway and does do several things at once, which are bypass Te Puke, remove dangerous sections of road, and increase capacity where the road is busy east of Te Puke. Also major growth predicted in that area. Note also in improves travel time for a wide variety of destinations, not just Whakatane.
Note also that Penlink would be the most expensive non-State Highway every built by a huge margin.
Penlink only improves journey time for half the residents of an isolated peninsular with very little developable land left, and barely any business land.
Would be fine if tolling can recoup half the money, but toll with push most of the traffic onto the existing road, especially if it is more than a couple of dollars.
Yes I can see it has benefits for the residents, but it really doesn’t get high of the priority list for a while when we have so much to do and a tight budget.
Auckland now includes the Peninsula in its ‘super city” and this was planned before it joined, as the roading is inadequate and outdated, rates in the area are well still well above the rest of the city average so because they won’t match Aucklands other rates….our money well spent. As for eastern link its going in at the moment as part of the view to the future, everyone here knows there is a faster route through pyes pa to rotorua and central north island. Penlink is for the peninsula and stillwaters future, something that saves people 30 to 40 mins a day in the car clearly wins, people forget to add up the real cost with all the lost time and petrol, something Auckland has been famous for many years…
Without the govt’s support for the freight industry the Eastern Link would not be getting built right now. Make no mistake, that road is about freight first.
All I see is ‘me, me, me’. Don’t hold ‘me’ up. Silverdale / Millwater makes far more sense for development than the peninsula. That 4 lane road that runs between the Silverdale centre and the housing on the northern side is a great example of an overbuilt residential street. I do agree that there needs to be an extra interchange at Wainui Rd.
An expensive project that will only benefit a very few people… Sounds just like Skypath..lols
Yes Phil, the expected project costs are almost identical 😉
I think Penlink is required and here is the reasoning / caveats:
1) build Penlink as a 2 lane bridge leading to a 2 lane road with a dedicated busway to the Northern Motorway
2) leave a corridor for 4 laning if this is required in the future.
3) Hibiscus Coast Highway is a terrible place for anything but motorised traffic and I think there is a good opportunity to down grade the Hibiscus Coast Highway in speed and size. Bus lanes on the existing outer lanes would be perfect as would cycle lanes (there is a huge amount of room). 60km/h limit.
4) Re-stripe, reconfigure intersections along the HC Hwy to reflect reduced traffic flows.
5) Akl Council to revisit density restrictions on Whangaparoa Peninsula to reflect investment in infrastructure.
The article which I have just read, including the comments above vilify the hardworking people of Whangaparaoa and we have been forgotten for over 100 years. We need Penlink. Did you not see our voting over the last 20 years? Local Body planners and so called engineers, Government and community divisive NGO’s have abused their priveledges in this wonderful protective Auckland peninsula and their awful consultations wrecked our families and homes. Our streets are car sales yards, our commercial centres home to motor parts and car repair shops and yet you still squash us down.. Failure of the Transport committees at the highest level have eviscerated our lives and those of our poor children. We need Penlink and we want it now. Move or get caught in the maelstrom.
Really? And what’s your argument? Or is RIBA membership sufficient?
Who has wrecked you families and homes? Failure of the transport committees? The biggest failure is in the planning (and indeed architects are a part of this) and the ad-hoc way Whangaparoa has developed with virtual strip malls along Whangaparoa Rd. Casual observation has led me to believe that the biggest blockage along Whangaparoa Rd is actually the Mall and the number of (light controlled) intersections. The rest of the road is relatively free flowing, indeed not much worse than any other road in Auckland. You want low density but at the same time demand high council investment?
This whole blog seems to be anti Penlink, twisting stats to suit your presuppositions. Come up this way in rush hour then rewrite it. Who gives a dam what you think as long as it goes ahead at once the Unitary Plan get the thumbs up. I fully expect a PPP with some Asian company to be announced in the next few months. You city folk and the nimby fools from Whanga can then do one.
You’re right, we don’t like Penlink. It’s a $380 million dollar road to a peninsula with little growth allowed in the Unitary Plan while we also need to fund a heap of infrastructure in areas that already have equal transport problems and a lot of growth planned. Penlink is simply not a priority. If there was actually some growth allowed on the peninsula then that might be a different story.
Hopefully your PPP will remove the need for the government to fund such wasteful infrastructure.
Obviously you don’t know what each of the three Ps stands for.
Public Private partnership, obviously you don’t know that the way each of them are funded can vary from no Public money, limited public money (skypath) or full public funding (Transmission Gully).
Never heard of PPP with no public money.
News flash, everywhere is congested at peak times. The street outside my house is chockers with traffic every day, do I get a third of a billion buck bypass handed to me on a plate? What about two dozen other parts of Auckland in the same boat?
There are about 7,500 households on the peninsula east of Stanmore Bay. $380 million dollars represents fifty grand subsidy per ratepayer who benefits FFS!
If you really want it then sure, build it as a non-subsidised toll road and you can pay for it yourself. Problem is it would need to recover $100k per weekday in tolls to pay for itself. For 7000 vehicles a $14 toll should cover it.
The PENLINK business case has some serious flaws. It includes a host of benefits for areas that simply aren’t affected by Penlink. And at peak times, it will simply get people to the Northern may tail a bit quicker. Not good value for money for that expenditure.