Yesterday Auckland Transport and the NZTA released their preferred route for the East-West link semi motorway. It consists primarily of a new road along the northern shore of the Mangere Inlet, something that has already been subject to a lot of change over the years.
Here’s what exists today (well a few years ago). You can see a little bit of variation but the past engineers have largely straightened out the foreshore.
And here’s what it looked like in 1940, before significant reclamation took place. You can also see the level of impact the mangroves are starting to have and they were bairly noticable.
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Wasn’t the reclamation done by the US Army? Also, Google Earth has come a long way! 🙂
Shame they couldn’t do something better with all that waterfront.
The waterfront along here used to be beautiful. There are volcanic stone walls with steps down to beaches and tracks all along this coastline. I have photos of my grandmother swimming at white sand beaches here in the 1950s. Now it is full of mangroves with container ports behind.
I think that you have forgotten that the Freezing Works (All 3 of them plus the ACC abattoir ) used to discharge into that part of the Harbour until the Mangere sewerage works were built. And it stank!
Hi Andrew, I am currently looking at this inlet for my Masters project, Would it be possible for you to share photos of what the inlet looked like in the 50’s?… that would be so much appreciated!
How on earth did the motorway builders get permission to build right through the middle of a crater?
How did they build it? I thought that was full of soft stuff.
I am confused about what kind of freight needs to move east-west or vice versa. The biggest employer in West Auckland is a supermarket chain, followed liquour outlets. East also lacks big industry (although not to the extent of West Auck). What exactly will use this route?
The whole “East-West” is not so much Henderson to Howick, as much as just Onehunga, Penrose, Mt Wellington, East Tamaki industrial areas accessing each other and the motorways/rail-yards/ports.
Great picture- nicely sourced.
There are a heck of a of of trucks going east-west along Neilson Street, quite a few of them going to the port, which is a lot busier than you would believe. In addition you have trucks servicing the industrial area in and around Neilson Street including the Kiwirail goods depot and the the Port of Tauranga’s Metroport depot in Neilson Street. Trucks for those facilities quite often use Neilson Street and the south-western motorway to avoid the huge parking lot called the Southern Motorway.
If this highway is going to cost a billion dollars, have all alternatives been considered?
Eg. Moving the inland ports? Or paying the truckers $200 each time they make deliveries at night? The existing roads are always empty in the evenings.
Unrelated to transport, but does someone know about mangroves? Are they native, or an introduced species? Why are there so many more mangroves than there used to be?
Mangroves are native to New Zealand, or to the northern parts of NZ, but are spreading south due to climate change. They can’t survive frosts, but with less frosts now they can creep south. I also thought their spread might have something to do with the sediment we pump down streams and rivers to the sea, and that they can establish on that, not sure though.
“I also thought their spread might have something to do with the sediment we pump down streams and rivers to the sea, and that they can establish on that…”
This is pretty much it. Deforestation has played a large role in this regard. If anyone is wanting more detail, here’s a handy little document from the old ARC that gives a good overview of mangroves in NZ.
http://www.marinenz.org.nz/documents/new_zealands_mangroves_summary.pdf
They are also influenced by tidal flow. So reducing the flow by restricting narrow parts of the harbour will enhance mangrove growth. Which is one of the effects of the POA proposal. This will increase the prevalence of mangroves in the upper Waitmata Harbour.
And why did they get removed from Papakura inlet?
A blight on people’s million dollar views probably..
Basically the reduction in the volume of water flowing into the inner part of the harbour due to the pinching of the channel where the bridge is
What a lovely varied coast line. Have we ever treated the Manukau badly, I guess it has the misfortune to be so near the sparkling Waitemata. Poor cousin syndrome.
Is not the key issue to link East Tamaki to the West via the NW motorway and to the Airport & Airport Oaks via the Western Motorway?
Trucks will rapidly drive from Eastern industrial area to the Western Industrial Area.
Real pity it could not go by rail – with a rail/container yard out Henderson and the new heavy rail link with a rail/container yard in Airport Oaks.
I am concerned that this motorway may block a heavy rail link from Onehunga to the Airport.
What is your point about mangroves? People often talk of them as if they are some sort of invasive pest when they are quite the opposite — they are the key element of an incredibly important ecosystem. And their extent around the country is quite a lot reduced compared to historical times. Their absence from the 1940 photo could well be due to clear felling.
If they build this motorway they may as well fill in the inlet completely. It’s ruined anyway may as well turn it into housing or something.
totally agree, this should be a long term project over the next couple of decades, fill in the inlet to just beyond current motorway bridge, retain industrial close to inland port etc, zone industry progressively away from Onehunga toward penrose, creating a new suburb land link with Mangere.
I lived on that inlet for 20 or so years and have a lot of opinions, but I’m home sick today so will keep them to a minimum. I’ll talk about mangroves though. Before the late 1980s, mangroves did not exist in the upper Manukau in any meaningful number. There are a number of reasons why.
The first reason is that for most of the 20th century, Otahuhu was the largest animal slaughter facility in the country, and before the RMA saw the discharge of large volumes of animal waste into the harbour. This was faeces and urine, blood, and unwanted animal parts. This deoxygenated the water, saw huge nitrogen levels and created an essentially lifeless pond. The Mangere Sewerage Plant also put large amounts of treated waste into the harbour until the 1990s, and this intensified this process.
The second and other very important reason is that mangroves are not a frost-tolerant plant. They are a tropical and subtropical plant that lives in estuarine environments with a supply of fresh water. The number and intensity of frosts in Auckland has been decreasing since the 1950s, and the global warming trend has seen an increase of about one degree since the early 20th century. The urban heat island effect is also substantial, and the conversion of Mangere land to housing and industrial, and the intensification of industrial and commercial activity in the area has contributed. It’s now warm enough for mangroves to establish and thrive.
Continued:
Mangroves are now part of the natural environment. In some cases, there is good reason to remove them, in the way that you remove trees to create park environments. They cause beaches to become muddy and inaccessible. But for those places which are not active recreation areas, they should be treated as any other native tree or plant, and left there unless good reasons exist for their removal.
George, it is quite likely mangroves existed there before the place was farmed. See http://nzpcn.org.nz/publications/ARC-325%20Mangrove-review.pdf for a good summary about what is known about mangroves in NZ (as of 8 years ago). Not much evidence to suggest climate change is a major driver in the change of mangrove distribution.
Reduced frosting and low average temperatures are the major constraint on range and density. As that document discusses.
If any of you have a chance take the walk/cycle along the Waikaraka walkway (and also across the bridge to the Mangere Bridge waterfront as well); it is one of the better good flat pathways away from the traffic around our coastal areas especially if you have kids. It is a shame this could not be extended (in stages) to go around the entire upper harbour inlet as it would not only make a great recreational facility, it would also have the ability to connect a lot surround suburbs with links to a city wide network that would include better links to the airport from many areas.
I think this would be the best way to rejuvenate this area; as once people start using it will lead to a major push to clean it up.
It will be nice when there is a similar picture to compare with these showing the present infill of material on the foreshore west of the boat club