Wayne Brown wants Auckland to be an efficient, green city
Stopping sprawl and turning Auckland into an efficient, green city? Sign us up, Mayor Wayne Brown!
On Friday 31 October, the Mayor and councillors were officially sworn in, and the Mayor made a speech outlining his priorities for the coming term.…
36 Comments More Thoughts on MOAR RoNS
The absurdly high cost – potentially $50 billion – of the government’s focus on building MOAR RoNS (Roads of National Significance) was highlighted last week, with the release of new costings for six of the 17 projects.
I covered some initial implications in a first post, Reality Bites: RoNS will bankrupt the nation.…
Reality bites: RoNS will bankrupt the nation
The government’s mega-roads programme is now looking to cost an astonishing $40-50 billion, based on new documents released yesterday by the NZTA.
On Monday, Transport Minister Chris Bishop touted the fact that $1.2 billion would be spent towards funding for design, consenting and property acquisition for six of the projects.…
Auckland Council’s 2025 Elections: Initial Results
We now have our first glimpse of the shape of the new council following the local body election on Saturday. The results emerge in three stages: “progress results” landed on Saturday afternoon, and “preliminary results” on Monday afternoon, with special votes (and thus the final outcomes) to come on Friday.…
The secrecy of mega-projects
How is it that mega-projects costing billions get such little public involvement and scrutiny? That’s a question that Mayor Wayne Brown effectively hits on in an interview a few days ago with the Herald where he spoke on plans for an additional harbour crossing.…
Plan Change debate: more housing was the winner on the day
Housing has been much in the headlines recently, with a few Auckland Councillors fighting tooth and nail to prevent more of it in their own neighbourhoods and instead push it out to other parts of the city. That approach failed yesterday, with a committee of council as a whole voting to accept a new Plan Change 120, to replace the existing Plan Change 78.…
Great benefits, what about the costs?
Big infrastructure projects are great if you only count the benefits and none of the costs. That seems to be the position of infrastructure lobby group Infrastructure NZ, based on a report they released last week about the big motorway projects built in Wellington over the last decade.…
Electrifying the North Island Rail Network
At about the same time as Wellington were announcing their new battery electric regional trains, KiwiRail was talking to the Waikato Regional Transport Committee (WRTC) about a plan to effectively electrify the entire North Island rail network.
You can also watch the presentation here, from about 44 minutes on.…
Wellington’s new regional trains revealed
Much like Auckland, Wellington rail users have had a hard time of it recently with significant works being undertaken to upgrade the network. They had some great news yesterday with the announcement Alstom will be building 18 five-car battery electric multiple unit (BEMU) trains to for their regional services.…
Auckland Transport No More
Mayor Wayne Brown has spent much of his time in office bemoaning the role of Wellington in how Auckland plans for the future often saying “Wellington needs to stop planning Auckland“. But on Friday he happily handed control of the city’s transport future over to Wellington, labelling it “a major victory for the people of Auckland“.…
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