Making a harbour tunnel “stack up”
Readers of my recent post may recall that I’m no fan of the proposed second harbour crossing. That has a lot to do with the fact it would actually be our third harbour crossing, and our third motorway crossing at that.…
38 Comments Light metro for the North Shore: a superior alternative to a harbour motorway tunnel?
I’ve recently been involved in casual discussions with Shoreite friends over the merits of a new harbour crossing, hearing many words in favour of motorways and railways and the like. I thought I’d use this post to outline the issues and opportunities of a new crossing to the North Shore as I see them, and outline one possible alternative for rail that might be just what the doctor ordered.…
Fallout for rail from the election result
The election result on the weekend was obviously not particularly conducive to achieving where I think the country’s transport policy should be heading, but I wasn’t quite expecting things to go bad quite so quickly. First, here’s new North Shore MP Maggie Barry talking about the City Rail Link and a duplicate harbour crossing (road based, one assumes):
Maggie Barry hit the ground running as the North Shore electorate’s first woman MP.…
Tolling the Harbour Bridge
Everyone knows that the price tag for a future harbour crossing is eye-watering. For a tunnel option (which really is the only option in my opinion) we’re looking at something north of $5 billion – which is significantly more expensive than any other project we’ve ever seriously considered (over twice the price of the City Rail Link, for example).…
Harbour Bridge traffic flows
One of the many reasons why I oppose an additional road crossing of the Waitemata Harbour (along with the insane price tag and the horrific environmental effects) is that I simply don’t think it’s necessary. Let’s take a look at monthly averaged daily traffic flows across the Harbour Bridge over the past few years – thanks to this excellent data from NZTA: The gaps in the data (it would be really nice having the earlier months in 2007 in particular) limit comparison to some extent, particularly as 2008 was an incredibly unusual year for traffic volumes (it’s when petrol prices skyrocketed through $2 a litre for the first time).…
Aligning our plans
There are a huge number of very important plans for Auckland’s future out for consultation at the moment, as I commented on in this previous post. However, one key thing will be to ensure they align with each other – as it’s pretty silly for one plan to be promoting something that would completely undermine what another plan is trying to achieve.…
Looking closer at the Harbour Crossing proposal
The most expensive transport project outlined in the Auckland Plan (and that’s quite an achievement in a transport chapter full of incredibly expensive transport projects) is not a rail project, but rather another motorway: the $3.9-$5.3 billion additional harbour crossing project.…
Exciting progress for Harbour Bridge pedestrian link
Just over two years ago I had one of most awesome mornings ever, as along with thousands of others, we took back the harbour bridge for people – even if it was just for an hour or two: One thing that stood out for me that day was just how utterly beautiful Auckland looked from a pedestrian’s perspective crossing the Harbour Bridge: That day’s crossing was effectively a protest against NZTA’s stupidity in not allowing a proper celebration of the Harbour Bridge’s 50th birthday through the provision of an organised pedestrian day, as well as the long-term unfairness of not being about to walk or cycle across the harbour.…
Harbour Crossing Alternative: further thoughts
The feedback on yesterday’s blog post about my suggested alternative to another motorway harbour crossing has been quite interesting – and perhaps a little more mixed that I had anticipated. For a start, it’s probably worth clarifying that I don’t think a railway line between downtown and Takapuna is a particularly high priority for Auckland: I would put it behind the City Rail Link, rail to southwest Auckland (including the Airport), busways along State Highway 16 and in the southeast, as well as a huge overhaul of our existing bus network.…
My alternative to another road-based harbour crossing
Today’s opening of the Hobsonville Deviation motorway has somehow led to further discussion of another road-based harbour crossing of the Waitemata. This from the NZ Herald:
The pieces of Auckland’s motorway puzzle are falling into place – and the biggest piece, a second harbour crossing, is looming large in the minds of planners…
…And the mother of all roading projects, a replacement for the Auckland Harbour Bridge, is edging closer, according to New Zealand Transport Authority Auckland state highways manager Tommy Parker.…
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