New Auckland harbour crossing: 25-year wait for road link 'laughable', says AA

Tuesday, 3 November 2020

Just 91m separates the Auckland Harbour Bridge sections as construction nears completion on February 12, 1959.

A multi-billion dollar business case for a new Auckland harbour crossing is copping flak from a motoring advocate even before its official release.

The Automobile Association (AA) says the proposal to wait at least 25 years before building a new road crossing is “laughable” and it would be disastrous to delay action for that long.

But a public transport advocate says upgrading the northern busway and then building a rail tunnel before any new road crossing is the right idea.

The business case is the latest instalment in the long-running, slow-moving saga of the additional Waitematā harbour connections project.

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It is to be discussed by Auckland Councillors at a planning meeting on Thursday.

Watch: Residents from the four corners of the supercity have their say on whether things are better or worse under Auckland Council. Video first published October 28 2010.

The agenda provides the first details about the huge sums underpinning the business case.

Proposed improvements in the business case to rail, road and busways for New Zealand’s biggest city could go as high as $18 billion over the next 27 years.

It recommends an urgent upgrade to the northern busway followed by an additional rail-based rapid transit connection for the North Shore, including a tunnel across the harbour to the CBD.

Linking Takapuna and the central city with a rapid transit tunnel, at least 6km long, is forecast to cost $5b. An additional $3b would be required to extend it further north to Albany, according to the business case.

AA's infrastructure and Auckland transport principal advisor Barney Irvine has hit out at aspects of a new business case for an additional harbour crossing.

It estimates the cost of an in-line road bridge expanding the capacity of the existing bridge at $1-$2b.

That figure balloons to $10b if a road tunnel is built instead, linking the city centre and Esmonde Rd with additional motorway lanes to Constellation Dr.

A summary of the business case provided in the agenda shows officials estimated an additional rail link would take 15 years to complete and is needed by the mid to late 2030s due to population growth.

The business case did not identify a need for a new road connection before the mid to late 2040s.

AA's infrastructure and Auckland transport principal advisor Barney Irvine said there was no doubt rapid transit needed to be part of the next harbour crossing, and could even be the piece to be completed first.

Traffic builds early on September 21 due to lane closures on the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

“But the idea that we won’t need a road crossing for 25-30 years is laughable,' Irvine said.

“Rapid transit on its own is not going to deal with the congestion pressures Auckland is facing, or provide the back-up the city needs when something goes wrong on the northern motorway. Putting off action for that long would be disastrous.”

Irvine said Auckland Transport and the NZ Transport Agency, whose staff worked on the project with Auckland Council, should look beyond road options within the existing motorway corridor.

“The motorway to the north and south of the bridge is already heavily congested, and building extra lanes is really expensive and really hard.

“If you add a new, six-lane tunnel into that corridor, it’s going to cost a huge amount, but not do much to alleviate congestion – that’s why they’re saying it’s not a priority.”

Instead, transport officials should examine a new road crossing further to the east or west of the current bridge, Irvine said.

Matt Lowrie, editor of transport and urban design blog Greater Auckland, said the business case was right to address public transport links first, starting with the northern busway improvements then moving on to a rail tunnel.

Auckland's northern busway is a segregated bus route linking the northern end of the Harbour Bridge to North Shore suburbs.

Opened in 2008, it is considered to be a success, with more than half of all people crossing the bridge using buses on any given day. The busway reached capacity in 2017, a decade ahead of schedule.

“The immediate need that we have is we need to get the public transport issue addressed because that's how we're going to move the most people and do so the most efficiently and with the least impact on climate change,” Lowrie said.

“We need to focus on improving the busways then we can look at a dedicated public transport crossing.”

“And then if we still need another road crossing in the future, then we can look at that.”

Lowrie said it was important to note the business case found linking the central city via rail with Albany, more than 10km north of the harbour bridge, was forecast to cost $8b including the tunnel, compared to $10b for a road crossing then additional motorway lanes to Constellation Dr.

“The best bang-for-buck outcome is to get that public transport crossing working first.”