Puhinui Reopens
On Saturday the new $69 million Puhinui Station was opened by Transport Minister Michael Wood and Mayor Phil Goff. The official opening was followed by a public open day which saw a large number of people turning up to take a look at the station.…
65 Comments The Plan for Buses in the City Centre
When complete the City Rail Link will transform how many people access and move around the city centre. Light rail, the Northern Path and other cycling improvements will be the same if they go ahead.
Even with these projects many people, and many more than do so today, will access the city centre by bus and I’m sure everyone would agree that the experience of catching buses needs to be improved.…
Queen St – Why is this so hard
There are so many things to be frustrated about with the likes of Auckland Council and Auckland Transport right now but one thing near the top of that list has to be their handling of changes to Queen St.
At a high-level this should be straightforward.…
Meaningless Light Rail Engagement
Back in April the government finally announced the next steps for light rail, the creation of an Establishment Unit – now called the Auckland Light Rail Group (ALRG) – to recommend the route, mode as well as a delivery entity for the project before the end of the year.…
We should add Rapid Transit to the Northern Pathway
The Government’s recent ‘re-baselining’ of the NZ Upgrade Programme has got a mixed reception over the past week or so. Most of the discussion has been about the Northern Pathway while largely ignoring greater cost increases on other projects.
Because the Northern Pathway can no longer be attached to the Harbour Bridge (for engineering reasons) and because Waka Kotahi refuses to reallocate a lane on the existing bridge, a whole new standalone crossing is now necessary if we are to correct a historical mistake and finally provide for walking and cycling across the harbour.…
Climate Commission’s Advice and the Clean Car Programme
Earlier this year the Climate Change Commission (CCC) consulted on their draft recommendations to the government on how to meet our domestic 2030 and 2050 emissions targets. There was certainly a lot to be positive about in it, particularly the linking of transport emissions to urban form but at the same time we also felt they weren’t anywhere near ambitious enough around the potential role for mode-shift in helping to meet our targets.…
Auckland Rapid Transit Plan Guidance for Light Rail
One of the most important outcomes of the Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP) from when it first emerged in 2016 was the government to agree that Auckland needed a region wide rapid transit network. Furthermore, while many of the projects and routes weren’t new, it also shifted to presenting them in a more holistic way.…
The NZ Upgrade Blowout
At the start of last year the government announced the NZ Upgrade Programme, a massive infrastructure programme which included $6.8 billion in transport projects around the country with around half of that being in Auckland.
The package contained some really good and much needed projects, such as the Northern Pathway, the third main between Otahuhu and Wiri, electrification from Papakura to Pukekohe along with new train stations along that section.…
Weekly Roundup – 28-May-21
Here’s our round up for the week of smaller stories. Normanby Roundabout
Next Tuesday night the Normanby Rd rail crossing will close to traffic as part of the City Rail Link works so they can build a trench for the tracks to go in.…
Is Driving the new smoking?
Last week I reported on the Ministry of Transport’s ‘green paper’ which outlines some potential policies and pathways to a net zero emissions from transport by 2050.
Of the four potential pathways it suggests, only one, Pathway 4, meets the targets set out by the Climate Change Commission.…
Processing...