Auckland Council, Government to announce 10-year plan to solve Auckland transport woes

Thursday, 26 April 2018

Minister for Transport Phil Twyford says the plan would deliver the 'vital projects' Auckland needed.

Major road overhauls to ease congestion in south and north Auckland are to feature when a new funding package to solve the city's transports woes is unveiled.

On Thursday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford alongside Auckland Mayor Phil Goff will confirm the main projects for the next 10 years of funding to battle Auckland congestion.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said the plan will provide a 'more balanced approach' to developing Auckland's transport network.

Twyford promised on Tuesday the plan will deliver the 'vital projects' Auckland needed and help fill a '$9.7 billion hole' in Auckland's transportation funding.

While the package will focus on public transport (it is being staged at the Newmarket trains station), it will also confirm the greenlight for two long awaited road projects - an upgrade of Mill Road giving an alternative to the southern motorway between Manukau and Papakura and further south where new subdivisions are emerging; and a connection between the northern motorway and the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.

A survey by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce showed a majority would be happy to fund the Whangaparaoa development by tolls if it meant getting the road done faster.

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While Twyford is opening the cheque book to help Aucklanders, he is carefully signalling that Auckland is not taking money away from other projects in the rest of the country.

'We'll be announcing a funded plan for world-class transport, that doesn't take more than Auckland's fair share from the national transport budget,' Twyford said.

Twyford confirmed the package will include funding for the Mill Road upgrade and Whangaparaoa's Penlink project alongside other road upgrades.

He took a swipe at the Opposition, who he accused of stoking fears Mill Rd and Penlink had been dropped by the new Labour-lead government.

'The update to be released later today puts paid to National's scaremongering: this Government is delivering the road upgrades Auckland needs as well as world-class rapid transit, without taking money away from the regions,' says Phil Twyford.

'Mill Road and Penlink will now progress, something that never happened during Simon Bridges' tenure as Transport Minister. Up to $82m was pencilled for the initial stages of the Mill Road project under his watch, but only $2m of investigation work was ever done. Local road projects, such as Mill Road and Penlink, were starved of funding by Mr Bridges' obsession with a few gold-plated projects.

Goff said Thursday's plan would provide a 'more balanced approach' to developing Auckland's transport network.

The package becomes part of the overarching 30 year blue print for tackling transport issues, called the Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP).

While the Thursday cash injection announcement was major, Goff said more money would be needed.

'ATAP represents a significant increase in investment in our transport network, but we will still need to find innovative ways to fund further development,' Goff said

HAPPY WITH TOLL

A survey by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce of 836 businesses affected by the Penlink project, showed a majority would be happy to fund the development by tolls, if it meant getting Penlink done faster.

Chamber head Michael Barnett said 83 per cent of those surveyed were willing to pay anywhere between $2.50 and $3 per trip.

'There is an acceptance that in order to get it done, there may be a cost, but most people see it as a huge benefit and time saver - like the waterview tunnel.'

He said Labour had probably missed it's opportunity to include a plan for a third road - an east-west link - in Thursday's announcement.

'If you're going to make any major announcements in Auckland at the moment, you would have said Mill Rd, east-west, and Penlink.'

None-the-less, Barnett said what had been outlined as included in the Thursday announcement was a good response from the government.

'Penlink … should have been done years ago, but to have it ticked off now, in my mind, is a really good thing.'

CONGESTION FREE NETWORK?

Blogger Matthew Lowrie from Greater Auckland warned the announcement should not be derailed by focus on the road projects. 'It should be a transport plan for Auckland as a whole, not just one or two projects which look pretty on the maps.'

He said it was highly likely the announcement would also feature the Greater Auckland-designed Congestion Free Network (CFN).

Adopted as part of Government policy last year, the CFN outlines an extensive expansion of the city's transit infrastructure through the construction of a light rail network and improving existing ferry, bus and rail routes.

The announcement will be the latest in a range of solutions presented to fix Auckland's congestion woes, with the most recent being a number of regional fuel taxes.

The Land Transport Management (Regional Fuel Tax) Amendment Bill, expected to be implemented in July, would allow Auckland Council to levy an expected 10c per litre on Auckland petrol sales.

It would sit alongside a fuel excise duty increase of between nine and 12 cents a litre to fund billions of land transport planning, focussing on road safety and rapid rail.

Once both are introduced Auckland motorists would be expected to pay upwards of 20 cents per litre more for petrol.