Notorious bottleneck, Lake Rd, upgrades revealed costing $10M to $70M-plus

Monday, 15 May 2017

Lake Rd upgrades are the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board's top priority for Auckland Council to fund in its 2017/18 Annual Plan

The bane of Auckland's North Shore commute for over 40 years, the perpetually congested Lake Rd, is set to get an infrastructure upgrade costing ratepayers anywhere from $10 to $70 plus million.

Since August 2016, Auckland Transport (AT) has been canvassing a detailed business case to improve Lake Rd traffic flow, and a synopsis of three separate road improvement options has been revealed by Auckland councillor Chris Darby on his Facebook page.

Auckland Councillor for the North Shore ward Chris Darby said the top, $70 million-plus, Lake Rd upgrade may not be the most realistic, given Auckland's $4 billion transport funding shortfall over the next 10 years.

The current average time to travel the length of Lake Rd, from Takapuna to Devonport, is 30 minutes.

The deluxe option, labelled the 'high investment level' upgrade, with an estimated cost of more than $70 million, would be a widening of Lake Rd through property acquisition, with a time frame for completion of more than 10 years.

Three separate infrastructure upgrade options for Lake Rd have been slated by Auckland Transport ranging from $10 to $70 plus million.

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This 'high investment' option would include additional lanes going north and south, and result in a 17-minute saving in travel time along Lake Rd. Also unique to this option is separated cycle lanes.

The stated disadvantages of this $70 million-plus upgrade is 'high community disruption' during construction, and the indeterminate time frame of 10-plus years to 'secure funding, undertake consenting, and acquire land'.

AT's 'medium investment level' upgrade option will cost around $30 to 40 million and will likely take five to 10 years to complete, with a 13-minute saving in travel time.

The main aspect of this 'medium' upgrade is to shift some kerbs to create longer sections of transit lanes than would be installed in the 'low' investment upgrade.

Like the 'high' investment upgrade, it includes additional transit lanes going north and south for buses and high-occupancy vehicles.

The final 'low investment level' upgrade will cost around $10 million, and not alter the existing Lake Rd kerbs at all, but will include new road markings to achieve some segments of transit lanes.

Expected to be delivered in the next five years, it will deliver a 10-minute travel time saving, and provide one additional lane going northward.

All three AT Lake Rd upgrade options include bus and ferry improvements, greater technology to manage transport flow, and retain cycle lanes in some capacity.

North Shore councillor Darby indicated he was leaning towards the 'medium investment level' upgrade.

'You've got to look at travel saving time versus the quantum of expenditure,' Darby said.

'The bigger spend requiring land acquisition, which you'll see in the 'high' option means it's going to take longer, because one of the biggest hold-ups is acquiring land.

'Now you've got to have a bit of a reality check and think 'what would the funding subsidy provider, NZTA, say about that?'

'If you can get significant savings in time with medium level of investment, why would you double your money to get only an extra four minutes time saving?'

Editor of online transport forum Greater Auckland, Matt Lowrie, said, the eventual choice of a 'high' to 'low' Lake Rd upgrade option needs to take into consideration the $4 billion funding shortfall for Auckland transport infrastructure over the next 10 years.

'Where does Lake Rd slot in with everything else is basically the question that needs to be answered?' Lowrie said.

'There are other roads in Auckland that have equally strong, or stronger, congestion issues.

'The challenge with Lake Rd is that it is a narrow corridor and they've obviously looked at options where they can widen it to varying degrees.

'The $70 million option would obviously require purchasing some property in locations to enable that widening. That certainly is not an easy task, particularly as house prices keep going up.'

At tomorrow's, May 16, Devonport-Takapuna Local Board meeting, the official AT draft Lake Rd improvement business case will be presented in full.

Further public consultation in early June will be undertaken to determine the preferred upgrade option.

Following this, an AT Lake Rd developed business case will be finalised and used to apply for funding from NZTA.