Give Aucklanders a real say on our next harbour crossing
Why is the public not involved in the options for Auckland’s next harbour crossing? This is a critical issue for our city, so it shouldn’t be a state secret, let alone a single option imposed on us by fiat.
Getting this right is something we all have a stake in.…
59 Comments When transparency might stop a bad project
Six months ago I lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman, appealing a refusal by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and the Ministry of Transport (MoT) to release information related to the Warkworth to Te Hana Road of National Significance project.…
Tweaks to Takaanini level crossings
Auckland Transport are tweaking their proposals for removing level crossings in Takaanini.
Updated plans for four new bridges to replace level crossings in Takaanini aim to save money and minimise construction disruption.
The Takaanini bridges are the next phase of the Auckland Rail Level Crossing Programme, which helps unlock the full potential of City Rail Link by allowing more frequent trains while keeping traffic moving and improving safety.…
The Road Toll of the RoNS
How many people have been killed or seriously injured because of a myopic focus on over-scoped highways?
This isn’t a rhetorical question.
The Roads of National Significance (RoNS) – the name of which is a political slogan – are a number of State Highway projects first proposed in 2009, by then National Party Minister of Transport Steven Joyce.…
Throwback Thursday: Holiday Highway Benefits Disputed (by Northland)
Over the last 15+ years, Greater Auckland (and formerly as Transport Blog) have been scrutinising the Roads of National Significance, and specifically the ‘Holiday Highway’ between Puhoi and Wellsford.
We’ve long been proponents of better, cheaper, and quicker-to-deliver solutions (than the proposed Road of National Significance mega-project), importantly for the safety issues on the stretch of State Highway 1 between Puhoi and Wellsford, but also across the wider Northland Region.…
The nation’s most expensive road (so far)?
If built, it will be the most expensive road ever constructed in New Zealand.
$3,500,000,000 to $4,000,000,000.
Over twice the cost per km as Transmission Gully.
And it is not a good project, by any measure.
And it’s currently being rushed towards construction, with a Public-Private Partnership contact set to be signed by July, locking in a generation of New Zealanders who’ll be paying the bill over the next few decades.…
The elephant on our roads: let’s lighten the load
Yesterday, with the fuel crisis as a rationale, the government announced an intention to allow heavier vehicles on New Zealand’s roads. This includes letting freight trucks carry heavier loads, and giving them more access to more of our road network, more of the time.…
Is reality setting in, re the Northland RONS?
There have been a couple of pieces this week about a few parts of the Northland Motorway that show reality is starting to bubble up – but will it reach the surface in time?
On Monday there was an op-ed in the Northern Advocate, from Whangārei Mayor Ken Couper.…
Getting better use of our transport networks.
Letting trucks use bus lanes – currently being proposed as a fuel crisis measure – might sound like a sensible solution, but it risks undermining broader goals around our transport system.
At the end of last week saw a few interesting comments from Mainfreight CEO Don Braid, and a swift response from Mayor Wayne Brown.…
AT Surveying about Western Line Level Crossings
As we’ve highlighted before, when the City Rail Link opens later this year the Western Line is set to benefit the most. Not only will it see the addition of two new city-centre stations (which all lines will benefit from), it also gets a significantly upgraded station (Maungawhau).…
Processing...