The NZTA have announced works that should result in an improved experience for bus users from north of Constellation Busway Station but that while it’s constructed is likely to cause delays to both bus users and car/truck drivers.
North Shore commuters are advised to allow additional journey time as work starts on the upgrade of the citybound shoulder lane on State Highway 1 leading to the Upper Harbour Highway (Constellation Drive) exit.
The temporary motorway shoulder lane closure, citybound between Greville Road and the Upper Harbour Highway, will be in place for 10 weeks, while the shoulder is widened to take buses continuously between the two interchanges.
Providing a continuous bus shoulder between Greville Road and the Upper Harbour Highway off-ramp will mean citybound buses no longer have to merge in and out of traffic lanes heading to the Constellation Park and Ride,” says NZ Transport Agency’s Acting Auckland and Northland Highway Manager Mieszko Iwaskow.
“These improvements, along with the upgrade of the Greville Road interchange, and the additional northbound lane between Upper Harbour Highway and Greville Road, will provide better journey time reliability for those travelling along the Northern Motorway.”
Due to be completed in June, the shoulder widening is the final stage of the Upper Harbour Highway to Greville Road Northbound Three-Laning Project, which is part of the Northern Corridor Improvements Programme.
For further information please visit www.nzta.govt.nz/UHH-Greville, or call 0800 72 74 74.
For Northern Corridor Improvements, please visit www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/auckland-northern-corridor/ or the Project Information Hub located at 33A Apollo Drive, Rosedale.
While the outcome should certainly be an improvement I do worry about the impact this work will have on bus reliability, especially with it starting in the middle of March.
Now if only they’d build a full busway instead of our at least as part of the massive interchange they have planned.
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This is completely unnecessary and a waste of money. The existing shoulder works fine. Just build the busway already.
I use Greville daily. The bus shoulders do need work.
Where they have to share the T2 lane there is a pinch point when T2 cars merge into the last of the on ramp and buses quite often can’t get past onto the shoulder.
Also just before Constellation there is another pinch point because a streetlight was installed too close to the shoulder, forcing buses to merge back into the traffic lane before hitting the off ramp.
While I agree that the busway proper should be built immediately, this is a pretty good compromise. Anyone who has caught a rush hour bus from Albany will agree. There needs to be a dedicated buslane independent of the T2 lane at Greville (right from the Greville southbound off ramp) and the streetlight needs to be moved.
Quite why this takes 10 weeks I’m not sure.
You think it’s bad now, wait until you spend 10 weeks having to merge into the traffic lane. I agree it’s not idea (also use it and see it from my car from time to time) but the 10 weeks is not an acceptable trade off. Better to put that money into the design work for the actual busway.
Honestly shut this outfit down altogether they don’t even have any qualified engineers on their board. Track Record zero, Qualifications zero, And Positive Impact anywhere zero. This is not a Transport Agency by any stretch of the imagination.
Talk about easy to prove professional negligence. No one qualified on board hello. Limit of Liability 7 years that is a whoppa including full remedial works on everything where no transport balance. Even worst Engineer would have realized 7 years ago, gee car not growing but PT is, and look at Netherlands for cycling..shit.
Given the percentage of people travelling on buses along this corridor it would make sense to make the left hand lane bus only during the construction period. No?
Good point. Let’s not repeat the Fanshawe fiasco.
I think this situation is a little different as there’s only two southbound lanes on the motorway. Had there been three then absolutely would agree with you.
Surely this should have been done over the Summer holidays when traffic was a lot lighter!
As for 10 weeks that is a huge amount of time for a relatively minor widening (limited complex construction). Firstly that pinch point just before the Constellation off ramp should be just constructed without any closures (the off ramp would be the access point). Once this is completed then they can work on the other parts in stages so that there is only ever 50m or so of needing to sit in general motorway traffic lanes. This should minimise delays for buses. Closing the whole section (about 1.5km) off in one go will turn a 2 minute bus ride into a 20 minute bus ride from Greville to Constellation which is unacceptable. I can imagine buses rat running down tawa or Greville and along Apollo to avoid the traffic jam.
What a joke. Yet again the North Shore are been shat on. We were promised 3 lanes on both sides of the motorway. The bus lane heading from Greville to Constellation will become permanent.
When are people north of the bridge going to say enough is enough & we demand the same quality of roading south of the bridge, out east & the western motorway is having millions spent on it for future growth & NO tolls
Probably never, because lots of them don’t care, and lots of them want the complete opposite. I live north of the bridge and I demand less roading than other areas of Auckland please.
More works will happen in the once the NZTA building their insanely over speced plans to upgrade Upper Harbour and Greville interchanges plus change the roads in between them.
This has been a while coming. See NZ Hearld May 31 ,2013 for piece on extending the buslane around the pinch spot
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10887470
To me this looks like a good quick-win by NZTA … I don’t use the busway (not my part of town), but i’m sure I’ve seen comments on this blog about that exact section of the bus route looking as though it should be cheap to improve. Even if busway extensions were to get included in the larger interchange upgrade, this cheaper improvement is probably worth having for 3 or 4 years until that happens. Just like the new Fanshawe St bus lanes were good value as an interim quick-win rather than waiting years for for a full busway on that section. I don’t support all of NZTA’s big-ticket projects, but I can still acknowledge there are some good people producing good ideas in parts of NZTA. Only pity is about the 10 week construction period, sounds a like long time for a few square metres of tarmac, hopefully the contractors deliver ahead of schedule. But better to get it knocked off now than wait until next summer and have it potentially delayed because the larger interchange works are closer.
much of the Greville to Constellation shoulder has been closed since Christmas while an additional lane from Tawa to Greville was built and signals installed on the roundabout east of the interchange, presumably this work allows the citybound buses to come down the Greville offramp and go up the onramp bypass, missing the queues on the overpass, but why this work couldn’t have been carried out as part of that closure baffles me
They already do this now at peak times.
The main problems for buses with this section are: 1) getting through the Greville Rd roundabout, 2) sharing the T2 lane with cars and trucks 3) not being able to get past vehicles merging at the end of the T2 lane 4) the slightly too narrow kink at the Constellation Drive off-ramp. Not 10 weeks worth of work. Ditch the T2 lane or force the merge for cars/trucks earlier. Move the light at the Constellation Drive end and done. Great temp fix until a full busway is built.
I’ve noticed delays on the off-ramp at Constellation where the bus is blocked by queues of cars at the lights. I hope this work will solve that as it’s one of the slowest parts of the whole NEX route.
I’m not sure what’s wrong with the shoulder buslane though. But really, we need the whole extension to Silverdale to be kicking off without delay!
Ever been on a bus in heavy rain?
Indeed and given the development occuring in Millwater and Orewa as well as the conversion of Whangaparoa golf course into housing, far beyond.
One of the most powerful tools a city has is the ability to zone and we could do worse than look at a land bankers tax, a windfall tax on unearned capital gain.
This could be used to fund required rapid pt corridors and infrastructure so that the growth is efficient for the city and not just a boon to the fortunate few.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10887742
I have linked a picture of the T2 Bus lane bit. (Try going to satellite view and look at the South Bound on ramp.http://www.wises.co.nz/l/North+Shore+City/#c/-36.736755/174.718597/19/
The onramp at Grevielle going South starts as three lanes – 2 car and one T2.
The two car lanes ends in a set of traffic lights, to control flow on to motorway. There is a black car on the Wises map at this point. The T2 lane continues.
However the two car lanes become one just as the T2 lane ends, about where the Brown car is.
Then there is a bit of “aligning” as these three lanes try to get going south. For the cars this is getting on the slowly moving motorway. For buses this is waiting for the cars to get out of the way before the bus lane starts (an agonising 50 metres away)
This has been happening for years
Cones were in place today.
A good place to see the effect will be Breakfast TV their post news transport slot has a good picture of stationary buses trying to get on the buslane. I suspect it will look more like a photo than a video for the next few weeks!