Second bridge over troubled water? Auckland mayor calling for another harbour bridge

Wednesday, 11 September 2024

The last two governments have been considering a tunnel under the Waitematā Harbour for Auckland’s second crossing.

Mayor Wayne Brown believes this would be a waste of money and wants a bridge instead.

But there are concerns about the impact a bridge from Meola Reef to Kauri Point would have.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is urging the Government to abandon plans for a tunnel under Waitematā Harbour and build a second bridge instead, but those against it are calling it a “backwards step”.

The current Auckland Bridge opened in 1959 and it soon became clear that four lanes weren’t enough, so two extra lanes were clipped onto either side of in 1964.

In the early 1970s, discussions started about a bridge from Meola Reef to Birkenhead, but that faded away when locals came out against it.

But recently, the Mayor has been calling for something similar to be looked at again, rather than the tunnel option which was promoted by the former Labour Government and continued by the current Coalition Government.

Labour’s plan, estimated to cost $56 billion, not only included two tunnels for cars, but a tunnel for light rail that would continue to Albany.

New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) has been working on an indicative business case for this, but when the Coalition Government came in late last year, light rail was taken off the table.

However, the Mayor wants to scrap that idea too, believing the tunnel will never happen and is proposing a bridge from Meola Reef to Kauri Point, which he believes would eventually pay for itself.

“It starts with the fact that the tunnel is a bad idea,” Brown said.

“We’ve got experience with tunnels in Auckland with the CRL (City Rail Link), they always cost twice as much as they say they’re going to cost. And they said that one was going to be $17 billion which means $34 billion which is the entire budget for transport in New Zealand for 10 years.

“It goes from a traffic jam on this side to the same traffic jam on the other side. So it doesn’t solve any problem, because the bridge isn’t congested at all.”

The proposed tunnel would go from Northcote on the Shore and link up with the motorway system in central Auckland and the Mayor doesn’t believe this would alleviate traffic woes.

“Having a tunnel doesn’t help that at all. And so I’m looking at what is wrong with what the offer is, then is there an alternative?” he said.

“I found a very good alternative, and there may well be others, but you’ve got to say that the tunnel is unaffordable and doesn’t do anything about fixing anything.” The Mayor believes using Meola Reef could be the best solution as the reef could be used to support the crossing.

“It goes 80% across the Harbour, the reef at low tide, and you can either put a causeway or even a whole series of low bridges,” he said.

“No boats go underneath that, because they’d go aground. And then you have a short bridge to the other side that’s way cheaper.”

Councillor Richard Hills says it’s good for the Mayor to think outside the square for solutions but in this case, he doesn’t believe the idea is a great one.

“I’ve got a lot of concern about an option like that and the community are pretty upset by it,” Hills said.

“The main issue is there’s nowhere for the road (either side of a bridge) to go. It has to join up to somewhere.

“If you did have a bridge that managed to get up that gradient above Kauri Point through all those beautiful nature reserves, then it would go into very small local roads.

“I’m not sure where you would put the motorways or the connections into that, so you’ve got small communities there.

“It’s not so much the structure itself, which I’m sure would have many issues with consenting, but where do all the vehicles go once you cross from essentially the zoo, into Beach Haven and Chatswood?

“Although it’s a good idea to look at other options, I think that one would be fairly impossible.”

Labour’s spokesperson for Auckland, Shanan Halbert, also doesn’t view the Mayor’s proposal favourably.

“This would be a backwards step for Auckland,” Halbert said.

“Planning has started. We’ve landed on a design and that’s tunnels across the Waitamatā, to go backwards on that would delay the project proceeding.

“What I’m hearing directly from Aucklanders is that they want us to get on with it in a bipartisan way.

“They’re willing to pay for it, and they want the certainty that the Waitematā Harbour crossing can provide.”

Halbert lives on the Shore and was previously MP for Northcote. He said there would be strong opposition to a bridge going to Kauri Point.

“It wouldn't make sense to me that we would go into the suburbs of the North Shore,” he said.

“From a connectivity perspective, it makes sense to connect with our inner city, to build new infrastructure where connections already exist, and we have the Northern Busway, which is the arterial route to get right into the city.”

Brown says a bridge won’t have to connect to a motorway initially and cites what happened with the current bridge as the reason why.

“When they built the bridge (to North Shore) there wasn’t a motorway anywhere. The motorway comes as things develop.

“In the fullness of time, motorways might upgrade. But the idea that you have to do the motorway straight away doesn’t reflect what’s happened.

“Young people may not realise that this didn’t go to a motorway. It took you to Takapuna, and you wound your way through there, and then that got full. So then they put the motorway to Albany.

The Mayor believes a bridge to Kauri Point would open up the possibility to develop land in the area currently owned by the Ministry of Defence and the rise in land value for that would cover the cost of the bridge.

“The Government keeps telling us about value uplift, that's how you pay for things. The only way you get value uplift is if you own the land,” he said.

“When you get across the other side, where this (bridge) would go to, it’s Government that owns that. It's unutilised Defence land, and we’re not fighting a war at the moment, and the Government want more houses.

“So if you put a bridge to this place, you fill it up with houses and you get enough value uplift to pay for the bridge.

“So instead of using up 10 years of all roading money from our country, you get a free bridge.

“That seems like a good idea, free, versus $36 billion which might be $70 billion for all I know.”

NZTA sought public feedback on the Waitematā Harbour Connections project last year, asking which mode of travel was the most important to them. Light rail got support from 75%, general traffic got 66% and there was 63% for walking and cycling.

Hills believes public transport needs to be the priority when determining what the second crossing looks like.

“We need long-term resilience for that corridor and quite a long time away the (current) bridge will need either more strengthening, replacing or less load on it.

“So there is an issue there long term, but the first place we need to go is public transport, walking and cycling.

“You need to get as many people as you can into good public transport. We saw it with the busway, in the mornings more than 50% of people crossing the bridge are in buses now because of that good investment.

“But over time, as we see more growth in the north, that will start coming back again.

“So we need light rail, we need metro, we need a busway over the Harbour.

“We need to be focusing on that first because if you just build some tunnels with roads in them, all you're doing is just putting congestion right through the North Shore, right through the city.”

However, Simeon Brown, who is the Minister for Auckland, Local Government and Transport, confirmed the focus for a crossing is now on motor vehicles, rather than light rail.

“We’ve taken it (light rail) off the table, we’re very focused about roading connection and resilience for our roading and freight connections across the city,” Minister Brown said.

“The Auckland Harbour Bridge is ageing, it is going to need significant maintenance renewals.

“So from our perspective, this is a resilience project, to make sure that the roading network in Auckland is as resilient as possible and that is where this project plays a critical role.”

“We've been very clear as a Government that it’s a priority, it's up to them now to go through that process.”

“Ultimately, they’ll go through a process of looking at what the options are, what the most affordable option is as well,” he said.

“We’ve been very clear as a Government that it’s a priority, it’s up to them now to go through that process.”

A spokesperson from NZTA said they had worked with a team of experts to complete an assessment of all options for a second harbour crossing.

“Our overarching aim with the project is a staged, comprehensive plan for the medium to long-term transport system between Albany and the city centre,” a spokesperson said.

“Waitematā Harbour Connections is one of New Zealand’s most complex and significant infrastructure projects in the coming decades. It will provide for a well-connected and efficient transport system, providing greater long-term resilience for the wider transport network and reducing the current pressures on the aging Auckland Harbour Bridge.

“The Government is currently considering the best way to progress the project and will provide guidance to NZTA on the next steps in the coming months.”

Whatever is decided, it’s unlikely ground will be broken on the project before the next general election and if there’s a change of Government there’s a chance that plans are ripped up again and it’s back to square one for the Waitematā Harbour Connection.

“We just need a clear plan, and I see the Government wants a bipartisan approach to infrastructure, but governments of all stripes get in and change everything,” Hills said.

“So they do need to sit down and look at what is the long-term fix for this, because all we're doing and all we're seeing is hundreds of millions of dollars spent on plans, constantly and our poor communities consult every time.

“I’ve been through three or four different consultations where people give their genuine feedback and then the government changes.

“So I think there needs to be a full, solid sit down and go, what is possible? What is needed?

“If we’re going to spend tens of billions of dollars, it needs to be the right modes and it needs to be the right timing, but also just stop this whole cycle of change.

“So I’m a bit sceptical that anything is going to happen in the next three to six years.”

Although Labour aren’t going to get their way with light rail, Minister Brown is optimistic that the crossing will become a reality.

“Ultimately, this is a major infrastructure project. My expectation is the Opposition would continue to support a second Waitematā Harbour Crossing.” he said.

“It is critical for Auckland and New Zealand and that’s why we’re doing this work.”

However, Halbert said the Coalition Government wasn’t playing ball with Labour to get cross-party support.

“Labour put in place the Infrastructure Commission, that was the first step to achieving a longer-term plan for transport and infrastructure in the city,” he said.

“The Harbour Crossing is actually a very good bipartisan project for Labour and National to work on together.

“It’s not only left to us in opposition, but the Government of the day, and the minister Simeon Brown needs to open his door, sit down and come up with a workable plan on projects that we all agree on, like the Harbour Crossing.”

A tunnel would cost less than the figure of $56 billion which was floated last year, but until there a decision is made on what option to go with, no one knows what the final figure will be, but it will still be the biggest infrastructure project to ever happen in New Zealand and Minister Brown said all funding models will need to be looked at for it, including a public-private partnership.

“We’re open to all types of funding and financing options, the use of tolls, PPPs, value capture, all of those funding tools should be on the table,” he said.

“We’re a small country and we need to be open to how we can get investment in and get things done here in New Zealand.”