On This Day… “Locking in” Vic Park Tunnel’s benefits

Today’s ‘on this day’ post comes from 2012. The additional southbound lanes over the Victoria Park Viaduct, made possible through the construction of the Victoria Park Tunnel, open to vehicles today. John Roughan’s NZ Herald editorial can barely contain his excitement at this prospect, largely because (he hopes) it will get rid of queue jumpers holding up traffic through St Mary’s Bay.…
23 Comments

Proof NZTA hates public transport?

I went for a walk around the northern portal of the Victoria Park Tunnel today (in between rain showers) to take a closer look at something which has caught my attention the last couple of times I’ve driven through the area – the incredibly poor provision for buses heading northbound from the city towards the Harbour Bridge.…
73 Comments

Wellington St onramp just about ready

NZTA’s press release yesterday notes that the reopening of the Wellington Street onramp is just about ready to go: Final work is underway to have the Wellington Street on-ramp in central Auckland ready to re-open for traffic joining the northbound lanes of State Highway 1 motorway next Monday morning (8 October).…
3 Comments

Shifting the problem, not solving it

It’s generally accepted that the Victoria Park Tunnel represents probably the most cost-effective project out of the entire Roads of National Significance package. This was confirmed by the SAHA report, which puts the VPT miles ahead of any other project in terms of its cost-benefit ratio:  For southbound traffic, the project has worked wonders – at least making it easier for traffic to access State Highway 16 westbound (which will be important post Waterview Connection as the primary route from the North Shore to the Airport), the Port and the Cook Street offramp.…
11 Comments

The Wellington Street fiasco continues

The Herald reported this morning that there was discussion about the Wellington Street onramp at yesterday’s meeting of the Council’s Transport Committee. Discussion at that meeting revealed strong public support for reopening the ramp: Support for reinstating a key Auckland motorway connection is shown in about 70 per cent of more than 700 public submissions, the Transport Agency acknowledged yesterday.…
17 Comments

The Wellington St onramp saga

There have been a couple of articles in the NZ Herald this week relating to the ongoing saga around whether the Wellington Street onramp will be reopened. First yesterday: Pressure is building on the Transport Agency to honour a commitment to reopen an Auckland motorway ramp which it closed during its $406 million Victoria Park tunnel project.…
29 Comments

Vic Park Tunnel on Campbell Live

Campbell Live this evening did a piece on the Victoria Park Tunnel – picking up on many of the points made in this post earlier in the week. Click the image below to watch the video: It’s a pity that Tommy Parker from NZTA never had to answer the question of how much rebuilding the Wellington Street onramp actually cost but he certainly seemed nervous about the whole issue.…
20 Comments