It’s Friday and we’ve got a long weekend ahead of us so here’s a few things that caught our attention this week to enjoy for some weekend reading.

This week in Greater Auckland

Can quitting cars be popular?

A great piece from the BBC about the challenge of implementing schemes to reduce car use, most notably things like road pricing.

“The moment before you do something is the most precarious political moment of all, because of all the fearmongering,” says Doug Gordon, a safe-streets advocate and co-host of the provocatively titled podcast War on Cars. “But, in my experience, the fears also don’t usually come to pass and the benefits do.”

There is even a curve that predicts this change in attitudes, according to Leo Murray, director of innovation at climate charity Possible. Named the “Goodwin curve” after the work of Philip Goodwin, emeritus professor of transport policy at University College London, the curve (or dip) charts how public support for road pricing schemes tend to begin well, with recognition of the need for intervention. That support then falls away as more specific details are released ahead of enforcement, only to rise again after implementation.

“We can’t find a single example of a traffic-reduction measure that’s been in place for more than two years that’s then gone on to be removed because of a lack of public support,” Murray notes, pointing to an Edinburgh study which showed initial opposition to speed limits shifting to support. He also cites Spain’s reassuring message to Wales when the latter was considering introducing speed limit change.

“But the process of getting there is painful and always follows these curves,” Murray adds. “So what is required is political courage and sensible scheduling. You don’t want to be running for re-election at the start of the Goodwin curve.”

Avoiding a hot bus ride

It’s been very hot lately and it can get pretty uncomfortable if you’re sitting on a bus with the sun beaming in on you. This site might help – and it works for Auckland too.

Discover the optimal seat to stay in the shade during your journey. Sit In Shade provides real-time sun exposure data and route visualization.

Biketastic

The Herald looked at bikes for the school commute.

With a set of sparkly shoes for 6-year-old Zoe, some shark-patterned sunglasses for 3-year-old Beau and the Barbie soundtrack queued on the Bluetooth speaker, the Russells are ready to head out on their family bike to school.

Lower Hutt dad Richie Russell has been doing this for years now, skipping the school bus run or rush-hour traffic in favour of riding his electric bike to school with his two kids on the back.

“It takes so little time to just get down there, get them off the bike and get them into the classroom,” he said.

Being on a bike means Russell can avoid the mad parking rush outside the school and drop his daughter right at her classroom door before heading to the neighbouring kindergarten and dropping off Beau. He said the morning trip only takes about two minutes and is unaffected by congestion.

Speaking of bikes, we’re going to need bigger cycleways.

And some neat stories from the top of the South Island.

This couple donated land and spent $60k to make make cycling better for those on Tasman’s Great Taste Cycle Trail.

Lublow and her husband, Richard Lublow, gifted the land beside their property to the cycle trail in the hopes of promoting the pastime in the valley.

However, as a keen cyclist, Richard knew how difficult it could be to find a place to rest off the beaten track, so together, they created Lublow’s Leap.

Complete with wifi, ice cream, drinks, coffee, fresh water, sunscreen and bug spray, the double-bay shed and outdoor area was a chance for cyclists to take a load off and connect with other cyclists arriving for a break.

“It’s extremely hot now during the summer,” Lublow said.

While this article gives a first hand account of a new trail in Marlborough includes a path added to the base of a rail bridge.

The trail will eventually extend from Picton to Kaikōura

The Seddon to Blenheim section of the 210-kilometre Whale Trail officially opens early this year, once signs telling Māori and Pakeha history are installed. Blenheim to Picton is expected to be ridable early next year and the entire trail from Picton to Kaikōura – barring a section between the Clarence River and Mangamaunu – about six months later.

The cost of speed tables

The Herald’s Bernard Orsman is going after Auckland Transport over the cost of speed tables (again).

The cost of a new pedestrian crossing in Wellington is tens of thousands of dollars. The cost in Auckland is several hundred thousand dollars.

These figures come from the 2021-2022 financial year when Auckland Transport chewed through $6 million on 12 signalised crossings at an average cost of $500,000 and Wellington City Council built four cheaper, non-signalised raised crossings for $119,000.

Even non-signalised crossings in Auckland come with a hefty price tag, such as a crossing at Williamson Ave in Grey Lynn that cost $490,000.
Auckland Transport chief executive Dean Kimpton has defended the local cost of crossings, saying they are fundamentally different from those in Wellington.

He said the estimated $40,000 cost of a raised pedestrian crossing in the Wellington suburb of Hataitai was for the raised pedestrian table only, which is made of asphalt that lasts for 10 years, whereas the Grey Lynn crossing is made of concrete that lasts up to 40 years.

The Hataitai village project included drainage, upgrading a second existing crossing, landscaping, plantings, artwork, lighting, and resurfacing the intersection for a total cost of $570,000.

Kimpton said the Williamson Ave crossing has five catch-pit upgrades, stormwater improvements, grated channels to allow for better overland and stormwater flow down the road, a central pedestrian island, pedestrian areas on both sides amongst the kerb and channel, footpath and bus stop upgrades, and lighting.

“That is not gold plated. Those are all things that need to be done if you are going to have both safe pedestrian access but also reduce the risk of flooding and safe walking.

This is a bit of an apples and oranges comparison, if Orsman is comparing the total costs of one project with the costs of just one part of another. Putting that aside, it does seem like AT need to look at ways of getting these costs down, because we need a lot more raised crossings. One area that looks to be very much in need of some focus is traffic management costs.

Williamson Ave pedestrian crossing costs

  • Design/consultation/consents – $80,000
  • Earthworks and clearing site – $19,000
  • Kerb and channel/traffic islands/signs/roadmarking/surfacing – $34,000
  • Concrete speed table – $33,000
  • Footpaths/pram crossing upgrade/lighting – $47,000
  • Traffic management – $172,000
  • Stormwater upgrades – $87,000
  • Site monitoring/quality assurance – $18,000
  • Total cost – $490,000
The Williamson Ave pedestrian crossing – before and after

And in a follow-up piece with comments from the Mayor and Transport Minister Simeon Brown:

Auckland Transport (AT) has “lost the plot” over the cost of pedestrian crossings when a lick of paint will do, claims Mayor Wayne Brown.

The city’s mayor said he was ropeable to read in the Herald that AT is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars installing pedestrian crossings when Wellington City Council is spending tens of thousands of dollars.

“The public don’t like that sort of money being wasted. AT spends so much money doing things that everyone else does cheaper.

“As soon as they do something, they seem to do everything and if you are just doing a crossing you just paint it, frankly,” Brown said.

Transport Minister Simeon Brown has also weighed in on the issue, arguing it is unacceptable how much AT is spending on new raised platforms and speed bumps.

“Not only is this a significant cost but the increasing number of these raised platforms that have been installed, particularly on busy roads, simply increases travel times and reduces the productivity of the network,” he said.

It’s not clear which Brown said this next bit, but I’m guessing it was the Mayor:

Brown called the AT board “weak” for not bringing staff into line over the costs, saying he has appointed a new board chairman, Richard Leggat, who is going to instruct them to halt work on more pedestrian crossings.

While costs do need some focus, the suggestion that just paint will do, or that we should be put vehicle speeds above human life, is simply wrong.

Tunnels and Caves

The idea of reopening the Albert Park Tunnels is still around but sadly is not likely to happen soon

An Auckland man who has spent 38 years campaigning for the reopening and development of a network of historic WWII-era tunnels beneath the CBD intends to keep his crusade going despite the latest setback.

Bill Reid, 84, has campaigned for the development of the Albert Park tunnels into a walkway and tourist attraction since 1986, but Auckland mayor Wayne Brown won’t be supporting his cause this council term.

“Auckland currently has many projects underway, and my focus is to ensure those projects are completed before undertaking any further significant projects,” Brown wrote in a letter to Reid in July.

“I acknowledge that you have found private investment, however my concern is that because this is public land and the actual state of the tunnel integrity is not fully known, I do not want to expose Auckland Council to an increased level of risk and liability, particularly given the council’s current financial position,” the emailed letter, seen by Stuff, and shared by Reid in December, said.

“I am quite devastated actually, and I have sent the mayor a letter saying I think he has made a bad decision,” Reid said.

“I fail to see why anybody within council would not like to have a new tourist attraction in Auckland and an integral walkway and cycle path.”

Meanwhile, tunnels of a different kind are being mapped.

They’re among Auckland’s most unusual and intriguing features – and are still being discovered beneath the city at a rate of one a month.

Now, researchers are setting out to map hundreds of underground lava caves, in a major new project to help inform future development in the city.

It’s well-known Auckland is built upon an ancient, sprawling and potentially active volcanic field spanning more than 50 centres – but fewer city residents might be aware of the extent of lava caves lying not far beneath their feet.

They’re found in few other places in New Zealand and are considered relatively rare even by world standards.

Among the largest is a massive system running 250m beneath Kitenui Avenue and surrounding streets in Mt Albert, and accidentally discovered in 2006 by workers repairing gas pipes.

He Gets it

A great op-ed from a business owner in Palmerston North who gets it.

If you were to take an aerial shot of our city you’d see that something like 20% of the land area is taken up by roads and parking.

And unlike New Zealand, in Europe people walk or cycle past shops and cafes because they can’t drive past.

That means they can stop and go in, ideally for the business, to spend some money.

A person driving by in a car can’t do that.

When I look out the front window of my cafe in George St, Palmerston North, and see a car driving past all I see is someone who isn’t spending money in the street.

They are almost certainly just using the road to get elsewhere.

Now those with no business experience will be saying “but those cars will park somewhere nearby and spend money”.

Maybe, but the opportunity cost of discouraging pedestrians and cyclists is almost certainly much higher.

Shorts

The Audi Effect

https://twitter.com/grescoe/status/1749875984843616578

This is what can happen when we make more space for people on Queen St. Also, it’s good to see Heart of the City actually celebrating the city rather than moaning about it.

Was there anything else that stood out to you that we’ve missed?

Have a great long weekend.

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55 comments

  1. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/03/noel-edmonds-spat-with-council-new-zealand
    This is also along the Tasman Cycle Trail ,shows the complete opposite to the Lublows. Noel Edmonds had some brief fame in the UK,(Mr Blobby),possibly trying to stay in the headlines in NZ.
    The “l,m an engineer.,a lick of paint will do, “makes a great soundbite,and that’s all. Dean Kimpton,I,m fairly confident understands the realities of roadworks,does the $172,000 traffic management bear further scrutiny.
    As per the norm,the bicycle keeps showing the way forward out of current traffic dilemmas, we just have to keep celebrating, these tiny marginal gains,eventually they will add up to an unstoppable force.

    Reply

    1. The $172k on traffic management is what stood out for me. Over 1/3rd the cost. And should “stormwater costs” be attributed to the project?

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      1. Yes because a raised device is considered a dam as it blocks the road drainage and sometimes even overland flow paths to some degree.

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  2. 500,000 is a crazy number though, and within that 172,000 for traffic management is a complete rip off.
    For comparison a lot of these new townhouses can be built for around 250,000 each. So 2 brand new townhouses for the same price as this pedestrian crossing.

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    2. Also 80k for design and consents is crazy. Its a bit of concrete on a road FFS.
      You can build a house for less than AT spend on a crossing.

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      1. What happens when that “bit of concrete” starts sinking or breaking up because of insufficient planning and design?

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        1. Build it again. Spending 500k because the 50k equivalent could possibly break seems crazy to me.

        2. Then if it breaks eleven times in the lifespan of the properly designed one, you’re worse off.

    3. The traffic management rules seem insane. Here in Hamilton the council spent a few days resealing the footpath of a cul-de-sac of a semi-main road (itself a bizarre prioritisation of work, given it’s a street of like 20 houses). There were 1-2 crews of TM staff and about 50m of cones along the main road each way.

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    4. AT is looking at pre-cast concrete ramps, so that traffic management costs can match asphalt ramps and be overnight, one-hit construction. See the access road at Kumeu. Design needs to get a lot of small details right to avoid trouble. Flooding, vibration, excessive severity need to be avoided. Sometimes the SW bit is because of the ramps, other times because it needs fixing anyway. A crossing needs footpath works, lighting and signs whether there is a table or not.

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  3. Yes, crossings that save lives (@ c $5m t time) and prevent serious injuries costs money, as does all other infra.
    But this alleged issue is being weaponised and used by those out there waging their ongoing war on anyone not in a vehicle. Missing is the fact that this is really about not inconveniencing drivers at all, even if it means killing or seriously injuring people. In this case, the most vulnerable – people on foot, disabled, kids, elderly.

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  4. But it isn’t real money to AT. It is other people’s money. We can thank Mark Ford and Rodney Hide for giving us a road controlling authority that isn’t accountable to Councillors.

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  5. I am fortunate enough to live in a small apartment on Kitchener St, with a view towards Albert Park. I find it quite amusing to watch people drive through this major city channel, attempt to park next to the park, and all seem to find the experience rather harrowing. I saunter down to the train station and the only thing I have to worry about is getting run over by a wheeled machine. Downtown is amazing compared to a decade ago for pedestrians.

    But my worldview is obviously rather distinct from spending time in big cities, and while calling Tamaki home, it always seems like a little town that wishes it were super!

    Reply

    1. It certainly is but they’ve missed a huge trick with these lame shared spaces. For example the one next to Britomart where the new Daily Bread is – that “shared” street is just chaos with so many vehicles and deliveries trying to get down it, then turning and exiting. Sitting out in the sun having a coffee and watching the dirty trucks deliver towels for the hotel. Surely that could be done before 7 am when no one is around…

      It should either have been a proper service lane with a road and clear segregated footpath (perhaps with bollards running the length of it) or it is completely pedestrianised – which given it is next to the country’s major train station probably should have been the option.

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  6. A real pity about the Albert Tunnel. It is a really cool idea and would be a great active mode link. A good example of a PPP. Like the Skypath that the government cancelled.

    Just painting a zebra on the road is cheap, but when a driver makes a mistake, hitting a pedestrian at 50kmph is likely a death or serious injury. Having a speed table, when a driver makes a mistake, hitting the pedestrian at 30kmph will probably be survivable. So if we are committed to putting people’s lives above driving faster, then speed tables are essential.

    TMP costs are related to the duration of the project. From what I understand AT was doing asphalt tables, but they didn’t last very long and had to get fixed every couple of years. So they went with concrete tables which last far longer, but also take much longer to construct because the concrete needs several days to cure.

    From what ive seen, AT appears to close one direction and do half the concrete table and when that is complete then close the other direction and build the other half. So it can take way longer to build with concrete. TMPs often require paid people on site for the duration. So the traffic management costs are higher than a project that takes less time.

    I’m not sure if there is enough competition in the TMP industry. I don’t really know much about the costs of running those kind of things.

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    1. Those sort of details don’t matter to grandstanding politicians, they’re just after a headline that appeals to their elderly electoral base. Chris Bishop did the same a few weeks ago with a splurge about “vacant KO houses”.

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    2. Yes, the tunnels really would be something unusual. And as you say, ticks the box as both a tourist attraction as well as a functioning active mode link, piecing together a few destinations in that part of the city.

      I can only imagine the OS&H hoops that have to be jumped through on something like this. But yes, they should just open it up to PPP and let a consortium do all the leg work to get it up and running.

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    3. “From what ive seen, AT appears to close one direction and do half the concrete table and when that is complete then close the other direction and build the other half. So it can take way longer to build with concrete. ”

      Yes couple of local ones done near my home and this is exactly what they did.

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  7. I always thought these types of speed control were great in London – great for cyclists as no bump to ride over. Presumably you could paint a crossing there too if needed.

    Cost wise I don’t know probably cheaper than rebuilding a concrete table…. Some very strong wrought iron bollards – good local industry could produce plus camera to monitor the middle emergency lane.

    https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5409275,-0.1054209,3a,75y,78.31h,87.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sWJ5MijUx_OsRClDfr0lrgQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

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      1. Yep I lived there for a number of years and walked through there to the overground. So many great areas for cycling, traffic calming, gated cul-de-sac walkways to only allow bikes, walking.

        Also mildly amusing seeing vehicles occasionally get scraped by the bollards because they were trying something stupid. I’m sure the bollards AT would put in would be knocked over in the first week.

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  8. Speaking of cycleways, who do I talk to about traffic safety on the Northwestern?

    Big issue is people on bikes (sometimes big heavy electrics) barrelling down the track (which has no centre line) at 30+km/h, sometimes up to 50. There are some entrance paths onto the cycleways where there are not clear lines of sight both ways, so you’re taking your life into your hands trying to get onto the path. I’m 100% pro-e-bike but if you’re going to soup your vehicle up so it achieves car-like speeds, the infrastructure has to have car-like safety precautions.

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    1. Talk to Simeon Brown. Funding for the NW widening project to increase space for all the path users is all that’s needed.

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      1. Before extra width I’d want to see better intersections per above comment, and underpasses at St Lukes and Carrington Rds.
        A Carrington Rd underpass would preferably see the cycleway routed adjacent to the motorway, bypassing the bridge over the creek at the end of Sutherland Rd and easing the grade both ways.
        As far as width goes, the narrow area and blind kink between Warwick St and Myrtle St is probably the next to fix. Just trimming trees, bushes and flax would help with width and sightlines in some areas.
        There are many cracks in the seal, so are getting close to the width of a road bike tyre. These need fixing urgently

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        1. If only NZTA had built an underpass at St Lukes Road when they rebuilt the overbridge.

  9. And 2 incidents on the Auckland Network this week ;-

    The 1st on Tuesday Morning with a death by train on the Eastern Line between Meadowbank and the Tunnel ;-

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/emergency-services-responding-to-train-incident-near-meadowbank-auckland/XSK7PHXMZ5HUXG7AKVSL4X3FBE/

    And the 2nd Thursday afternoon with all Power being shut down on the Southern line after an Incident at Market Road which caused the Western line train to sit at Newmarket for 10-15minutes with all power gone and at least the doors were still open for air to flow through ;-

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crash-on-aucklands-market-rd-overbridge-causing-significant-delays-emergency-services-responding/N2JEQLR62ZHOJMG7HBKKUH5XFY/

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  10. The cafe the Palmy business owner refers to, George St, is a great little street. Two very popular cafes at either end, a few more along its stretch and one about half way down where Coleman Mall joins the street. The Library backs onto the street, as well as the Council building (almost) and the Rugby Museum and Museum proper is just around the corner. There’s also some quirky K-Road type shops. It gets its fair share of sun (for Palmy) and is tree lined.

    The whole area should be a shared space at a minimum. That corner of the Square has needed some love for a while, because on the other side its dominated by the Plaza and Broadway, both with far more amenities and, therefore, pedestrians/shoppers.

    Reply

    1. Orsman so eager to beat up AT he can’t wait for a statement. The Hayr Road crossing was to support a Local Board bike route. Unfortunately, too much quarry and other freight traffic uses Hayr Road, so the noise and vibration problem (not foreseen when designed) is too great.

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  12. On a related note: FENZ and the trucking industry are pushing AT hard to build fewer raised tables and to weaken those that they do. I have already heard from people in AT that there is a push to reduce the gradients again (after they were already weakened via Practice Note 2). We are going to end up with 75mm high tables and 1:20 gradients (I wish I was making this up), which for an SUV driver isn’t even a bounce. The whole safety / slow down effect is basically gone with that. Cars first.

    Reply

    1. No, ambulances, fire engines, buses and trucks first. At least 75 mm high tables will cause most drivers to be slowing down on the approach, so more likely to avoid a crash. Off-road suspension design for private cars is really hard to deal with. Bring back the man with the red flag. Getting the design balance right is really hard, so correcting the really bad examples is going to be necessary sometimes. It is still going to be worth saving people from death or serious injury.

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      1. As someone who owns a Mini who has had front splitter issues with raised tables even at stock ride height, I can’t +1 this enough. Or technically at all, but you get the idea. The Point England pedestrian crossings were pretty bad for this at one point.

        Making the raised tables so aggressive that only people with SUVs can negotiate them will only lock more people into buying SUVs.

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        1. Yes would like to see greater consideration to dramatic road narrowing at crossings. SUVs continually cross at speed because they can and they feel their tanks can cope with the slight ( to them) change in road levels, their thinking backed up by adverts suggesting their vehicles can “defeat” anything nature can throw at them.

        2. “Yes would like to see greater consideration to dramatic road narrowing at crossings. ”

          And thus ensure that our roads get even more hostile for bikes. We have the issue that are roads are far too wide. If we locally pinch them down at crossings, then suddenly people on bikes have to cycle into the way (I use those words quite intentionally) of the SUV to get through the crossings. This kind of behaviour is not what normal people do, especially with aggressive Auckland drivers.

          Thus, every narrow crossing becomes another reason not to ride a bike. I have pushed back against such designs for years (with mixed results).

          Yes, there are some ways around that (bypasses), but their entries and exits can often be parked across, or the bypasses fill up with litter, etc. They are quite complex to make work well, especially when the road otherwise has no bike lanes – and in any case make the crossing much less simple – leading to another type of bashing for “gold plated” or “over-engineered” solutions, when really it is the speed and numbers of CARS which are the issue for everyone else.

          Also, as I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, raised crossings have significant other benefits, including that you CAN’T “shoot them” (a narrow crossing can still be passed at speed if you are a “confident” driver), that they are better for mobility-impaired pedestrians. I stick to my position that raised crossings are a real positive. The safety benefits (proven by research, see citations in NZTA’s pedestrian planning and design guide) are so much higher than other options it’s amazing.

      2. “It is still going to be worth saving people from death or serious injury.”

        That’s my point: Its not going to be worth it. I have seen gradient tables with 1:15 and 1:20. Nobody even slows down for them. Sure, in some contexts, 1:10 was too harsh. But we’re throwing out the baby with the bathwater, and opponents are using “but think of fire engines!” as the kill-all comment.

        The fact that our roads are congested is a much bigger factor in response times than the occasional need for a fire engine to slow down to 30 to go across a crossing. And also, the fact that as we intensify (more people in one area), we need more fire stations, but aren’t building enough new ones, especially not “infill” stations.

        Instead, some people who never liked to slow down are using these concerns to beat up on AT, and on slowing cars down. Well, our death and injury rates remain woeful, and every decade transport agencies do another “mea culpa” report admitting they look bad and then promising to do something, and then not doing it.

        Yes, I understand the perverse incentive towards SUVs with suspension becoming a “city vehicle” that deals better with raised tables. But the response can’t be to throw up our hands and say “oh well, free driving for free people” (well, unless you are ACT).

        On a related note: Raised table crossings are far better for elderly people and other people with mobility impairments too.

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  13. As someone familiar with the speed tables AT are building I agree with Wayne Brown 100%
    There are simpler and cheaper interventions and AT aren’t factoring in costs into their decision making.

    There is a strong culture of being very principled and setting high standards but costs aren’t normally in their thinking.

    Although Wayne’s comments are inflammatory by design it is already shifting their thinking. I would stop short of praising him but he is doing his job and asking the right questions

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    1. High standards or appropriate standards? The current practice is aligned to what the Council agreed with the adoption of Vision Zero and the Safe Systems Assessment Framework.

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    2. Always looking for cheap, practicable and safe. All three don’t come so easy. Cheap includes cheap to build and to renew. Don’t think that AT doesn’t look at the cost carefully.

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  14. Raised tables? Too problematic. If traffic needs to be slowed to 30 km/h at a zebra crossing for safety reasons than it should be 30 km/h 100 m either side of the crossing, or the whole damn street.

    Widespread 30 km/h areas with speed cameras up the wazoo. Hefty fines for transgressors and vehicle confiscations for the 3rd offence within 18 months.

    Freedom from death and serious injury is more important than saving a few minutes of drivers time and the fines will initially pay for the cameras and the infrastructure to administer the scheme. What’s not to like?

    Reply

    1. “What’s not to like?”

      The fact that this goes against our neoliberal framing of what “freedom” is – and which attitude currently on the way up, in terms of decisionmakers and politicians.

      I’d like to see it, but right now, we’re moving totally the opposite way.

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      1. Just stop putting these silly labels on it, Damian. It doesn’t matter a jot whether it is “neoliberal” or not; common or garden logic says it’s an effective, low cost solution to the vulnerable being mown down by drivers of vehicles.

        My solution may have flaws. I am not aware of any but if anyone here has a better solution let us all know and we can debate it like rational and well-informed people (as I am sure some of you are).

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    2. In 30 zones, drivers need to be challenged with concrete, not finger wagged with cameras.

      A camera does nothing to physically slow a driver, but bumps, tables, bollards, corners, chicanes, parked vehicles and mature trees do.

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  16. Those albert park tunnels would be great. It’s a real shame they can’t be opened up. If we could save a bunch of money from traffic management we could make the outside of the tunnel walls as a screen kind of like the sphere in Las Vegas. So you are immersed in something different each time you go through.
    All the we have to do it seems is to cancel two or 3 pedestrian crossings and we will have the cash.

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  17. We live close to a raised table pedestrian crossing, one of two on the street.
    Several times a day, and night, police cars and fire trucks on emergency call outs cross the speed tables with no problems, or noise, other then their sirens.

    The biggest noise generators are those that try to obtain the maximum speed possible between the speed tables. And then backfire as they decelerate to tackle the next table.
    And the occasional truck or loaded trailer that has not slowed down sufficiently before hand

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  18. And the Works have now started proper on the 3rd main and the Middlemore North bound Platform and the extension to the Overbridge ;-

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  19. Dear Mayor Brown

    Recently I read you letter regarding axing of the Albert Park Tunnels

    Please can I suggest you reconsider your decision on this (With the following information)

    1.) The Tunnels will bring in much needed foreign money and help the fragile tourism industry of Auckland
    2.) The CBD is starving of decent customers
    3.) The City CBD will be a Walking and Biking as that is simply the only long term solution for getting around the small CBD
    4.) The City Rail Links 5 Billion debt and $250 Million + operating expense be in vain without small $80 Million projects like the Tunnel under Albert Park

    We all agree and Thank You for limiting extra projects and prudent financial stance; after being left a massive debt hole from the previous administration

    But Auckland is in a precarious state of life support and a drastic cutting of possible revenue EARNERS and new SOLUTIONS to GROWTH is dangerous.

    Opportunities to grow the City’s Wealth is now imperative.

    AGAIN All Aucklands owes you a debt of gratitude for your expertise to help this city.
    ….
    (Rate Payer)

    Reply

    1. The CRL operating cost is not $250 million per year. That is made up Bernard Orsman nonsense. And what would be the security cost for the Albert Park tunnels?

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    2. No disrespect but I imagine maintenance and security costs would be quite high and as an avid traveler (90+ countries and counting), no tunnel bar those with significant historical interest have ever featured highly as a tourist “must do”.

      I’m sure your average tourist thinks the same.

      Reply

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