The Crosstown Light Rail Option
In some posts recently I’ve mentioned about the idea of a crosstown light rail line. It’s something we’ve talked about before but given the discussions currently underway about light rail, it’s probably worth re-looking at.
To explain the idea, let’s start by looking at the strategic ideas behind it.…
84 Comments Northern Pathway ‘rethink’ on the cards
Yesterday an article in the NZ Herald suggested that the Government is having second thoughts about the Northern Pathway walking and cycling bridge across the Waitemata Harbour.
Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson wants the Government to bring forward work on a second Waitematā crossing, likely to be a tunnel.…
Cullen on Climate and Light Rail
Sir Michael Cullen, ex-deputy prime minister and finance minister under Helen Clark, briefly an Auckland Transport director, and resident of coastal Bay of Plenty, used his opinion column in the herald last weekend to make some strong points about climate change action.…
July-21 AT Board Meeting
Today the Auckland Transport board meet again and it’s been while since we covered one. Here are the things that caught my attention from the agendas and papers.
Closed Session
The closed session is where most of the interesting stuff goes, though not entirely this month, and there were a number of items up for approval and noting this meeting that stood out.…
Northwest Bus Improvements Start
Auckland has had plenty of mistakes and missed opportunities in its transport history and one of the biggest is also one of the most recent, the failure by Waka Kotahi to build a busway on SH16 at the same time as we were expanding it as part of the Western Ring Route works.…
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.…
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.…
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