Auckland Transport: More than 260 roadworks jobs as city in biggest ever growth period

Monday, 2 December 2019

Auckland is awash with orange road cones as the council spends billions upgrading its streets.

Orange has become the new black across Auckland – never in the city's history have there been more tangerine-coloured cones warning motorists of roadworks around its streets.

After years of under-investment, the city was in its biggest period of growth ever and $6 billion would be poured into its infrastructure over the next five years. But with that came growing pains, Auckland Transport said.

As more roads were closed, or whittled down to single lanes, road users were finding it increasingly difficult to move around the city.

Auckland Transport road maintenance and upgrade activity for week ending 24 November 2019.

During the final week of November, 261 active roadworks jobs were underway across the city, increasing the congestion problems during peak travel periods.

**READ MORE:

* Auckland's roadworks nightmare: 240 projects in one week across region

* Auckland's Franklin Rd: $21.9m construction project finally ends

Auckland Transport is spending $6 billion on upgrading the city's roadways.

* Christchurch's mass roadworks continue with 400 projects over next decade

* Auckland Transport launches campaign to 'reunite' its lone road cones**

Marika Sutinoeska has been driving taxis for in Auckland for 15 years and told Stuff she had never seen it so bad.

'It's making it very difficult for drivers,' she said.

'Trips are taking longer and it's hard to find places to stop, sometimes you can't turn left or right and it can affect pick ups and drop offs.'

Aucklanders are used to seeing orange cones around the city, an upgrade to Franklin Rd took two years to complete.

If it took too long for her to reach a client, she risked the fare being cancelled and affecting her star rating, she said.

'We are all very annoyed but I think people are understanding that it's just taking a little bit longer now.'

Never before have there been more roadworks in Auckland.

Auckland Transport's spokeswoman Natalie Polley said it was 'all go' in construction season after a long, wet winter.

She said 2021 was a 'milestone year' for Auckland with APEC, the America's Cup and other large international events like Te Matatini Kapahaka Festival planned.

'We are working to make the city the best it can be, but this means there are more roadworks than ever.'

Claiming a big chunk of that investment were large-scale projects such as Downtown, The Central Interceptor, Quay St, Karangahape Rd and the City Rail Link – along with lots of private construction such as Commercial Bay.

However, this did not take into account the extensive upgrades to the state highways servicing the city.

According to the New Zealand Transport Agency, there were 21 maintenance sites on the motorways taking traffic in and out of Auckland.

Jim McWilliams, the president of the New Zealand Taxi Federation, said his cabbies were frustrated with the delays on the Takanini motorway project, which were making it difficult for his south Auckland drivers to connect to the city.

'In terms of current roadworks, a lot of the works listed on our site are water supply improvements, storm water work or underground telecommunications work – so not all the work is specifically Auckland Transport work, but it does require road closures,' Polley said.

The Auckland Transport website kept up-to-date information on all ongoing works, 'so Aucklanders can check the site for updates', she said.

'We urge Aucklanders to be patient and use public transport whenever possible – to avoid delays due to any work in progress.'