Northern Motorway widening started

The governments announcement in June that they would fast track a number of (primarily road) projects has now seen the first result. Today John Key turned the sod on a project to widen the northern motorway northbound between Upper Harbour Highway and Grevelle Rd as well as some other works in the area which are designed to “ease congestion”.…
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Strange Numbers in the 2014/15 Annual Plan

As well as discussing SkyPath (and the Mayor’s recent dramas), tomorrow’s meeting of the Council’s Governing Body is also set to work through the 2014/15 Draft Annual Plan and adopt the Draft for consultation. There are a few unresolved matters in the Annual Plan discussions – particularly reference to an $18 million operational funding shortfall for Auckland Transport that is described below: Officers reported to the 21 November 2013 Budget Committee meeting on Auckland Transport’s request for an additional $18 million of operational funding relative to the 2014/2015 projections in their Statement of Intent. …
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Photo of the Day- Pt Resolution Revisited.

A few weeks back I returned to the new Pt Resolution Bridge to see how it’s settling in. Earlier post here. This is a great setting for investment in good design, and popular in the mornings with exercisers from the expensive properties above the point, but here’s to the same high standards being met all over the city and not just for a relatively small number of users at the bottom of the Prime Minister’s street.…
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Transport and the CPI

It seems like the “Transport Statistics” section of our blog (under the “Our Analysis” tab) needs some love, so here’s some CPI data from Statistics New Zealand. The CPI is the official measure of inflation. Each quarter, Statistics New Zealand collects information on the prices of various goods and services which are bought by consumers.…
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Skypath ready to move to next phase

The councils governing body are due to meet on Thursday and it is likely to be quite a bit of a circus due to recent events. However the meeting isn’t just about addressing Len Brown and the outcome of the EY report with one of the other items of business is an update on the on what is happening with Skypath, the proposed walking and cycling route across the Harbour Bridge.…
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Highway Teardowns

Unfortunately, while freeways did provide vehicular access to downtown, they also disrupted the existing urban grid and street system. Freeways severed local commercial activity from customers, and many once vibrant streets now stand with shuttered businesses and negligible street activity. -Mayor’s Innovation Project It is conventional wisdom that motorways or other high capacity, limited access roads have no place in productive urban environments.…
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