Right on Queue
Right on queue we get a full page spread from the Herald about traffic queues. Wet weather, a serious crash and the post-Christmas rush combined to bring bumper-to-bumper congestion on long sections of highways and travel misery to holidaymakers.
Police described some traffic as a “rolling carpark” and urged calm as queues of up to 20km yesterday greeted motorists escaping Auckland, in the holiday hot-spot of the Coromandel Peninsula and north of Wellington.…
25 Comments Overkill
We know that Auckland’s transport plans are completely unaffordable, a more interesting question is “why?” Much of the answer to that questions comes from what I refer to as “overkill”. Essentially, a solution that’s vastly oversized compared to the problem it’s trying to solve.…
Puhoi to Warkworth Board of Inquiry submissions close soon
I realise it might seem like fairly late notice however if you intend to make a submission about Puhoi to Warkworth then you only have a few days left as submissions close at 5pm on Friday. The details for how to make a submission are on the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) website while the detailed documents from the NZTA to support the proposal can be found here.…
Portugal’s Ghost Roads
In the comments, “Handlebars Matt” provided a link to this video about how nobody is using Portugal’s motorway system – which was built at vast cost over the past decade: I often fear that this is the future for many of the Roads of National Significance that are either under construction or due to begin construction in the next few years.…
The financial impacts of the CRL – At the margin
“At the margin” is one of my favourite economic expressions.
Recently I’ve been thinking about how the City Rail Link (CRL) affects the financial performance of Auckland’s rail network “at the margin”.
Specifically: What is the impact of the CRL on patronage?…
Puhoi to Wellsford EPA documents
Yesterday the NZTA released the documents they are using to apply for consent for the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway. Here is the press release:
The NZ Transport Agency says details of its application and supporting documents to construct the Pūhoi to Warkworth section of the Ara Tūhono – Pūhoi to Wellsford Road of National Significance are now available on-line at www.nzta.govt.nz/puhoi-to-warkworth-application…
Holiday Highway Benefits Disputed (by Northland)
Proponents of the Puhoi-Wellsford “holiday highway” have regularly tried to portray the project as being of critical importance to the future prosperity of Northland. I have even heard that before the last election at a “Backbenchers” special TV show in Auckland, Nikki Kaye even went so far as suggesting that the road would be a critical way of solving child poverty in Auckland.…
The realities of Puhoi to Wellsford
The sheer stupidity of the Puhoi to Wellsford project might be starting to hit home for some of the residents of Warkworth and surrounding areas as the exact route of the motorway starts to be understood.
Warkworth residents hoping for a link from the Woodcocks Rd industrial area to the new motorway proposed from Puhoi appear to have had their hopes dashed.…
“Holiday Highway” likely to have consent fast-tracked
The NZ Herald reported yesterday that the Puhoi-Warkworth section of the Puhoi-Wellsford Road of National Significance is likely to have its consent fast-tracked through the same Board of Inquiry process to that used by NZTA for the Waterview Connection project. This is of course no surprise as all the Roads of National Significance are going through the same process.…
NZTA is pushing on with the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway
While the council and government battle over when the CRL, a project that will create transformational change in the city, the NZTA is pushing on with building a motorway on the edge of town. The NZTA has just announced that an alliance of companies are about to spend $17.5 million on getting the preparation done so that the agency can start the process to obtain consent later this year.…
Processing...