Road plans take shape
BY MIKE BISHARA & CARALISE MOORE
MOTORWAY MOVING: More details on plans to extend the northern motorway 38km from the Northern Gateway toll road were announced today.
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Plans for a $1.38 billion four-lane northern motorway from Puhoi to Wellsford are firming up.
A possible tolled stage, the first section from the existing Northern Gateway toll road near Puhoi to just north of Warkworth is expected to be completed in nine years.
A second section parallel to State Highway 1 to Wellsford township's northern outskirts is likely to take longer, so may miss the earlier 10-year completion deadline.
The new extensions totalling 38 kilometres forecast a travel time saving of around eight minutes between Puhoi and Warkworth, and seven minutes between Warkworth and Wellsford.
Motorists facing congestion in these areas over this holiday weekend will be pleased to learn that during the 10 major public holiday weekends it is anticipated travel time savings will be more significant because of the present congestion at these times.
The progress announcement today came from the NZ Transport Agency and Transport Minister Steven Joyce.
"The Puhoi to Wellsford corridor has been identified as one of our most essential state highway routes to reduce congestion, improve safety and support economic growth in the Auckland and Northland regions," says Mr Joyce.
The agency says it is in the project-scoping phase, which involves investigation of various options for the two sections of the road. It will be followed by a comprehensive public engagement process. Both sections will be called in under the Resource Management Act, expected to be in 2012. Construction of Puhoi to Warkworth is expected to start mid-2013 to 2019 and construction of Warkworth to Wellsford from 2020 onwards.
Mr Joyce says one option being investigated is to build the Warkworth bypass first to relieve congestion at that point.
"However, we would still need to know where the road north and south of that links into the bypass route, so it will still take some time to get the consents for that section."
Mr Joyce expressed frustration about a lack of planning for the route before last year, and says the delay on the extension is because of the previous government's lack of forethought.
"Given the previous government seemed to believe the job finished at Puhoi and had no intention of four-laning beyond that, we were beginning from a standing start and have been playing catch-up over the last 12 months," he says.
The government announced the Puhoi to Wellsford section of SH1 as a road of national significance last March, and work began to scope the project and start investigations of route options.
"The government's $10.7b commitment to state highway funding over the 10-year period means that funding is not the big issue for this project, but the reality is design, consultation and consenting processes all take time," says Mr Joyce.
"On our current timetable this will be the fastest ever major highway project completed in this country from go to whoa."
In a project summary statement released yesterday, the agency laid out the two-stage plan.
The project scope is for a four-lane, divided highway that will include bypasses around Warkworth and Wellsford.
Options for tolling the first section are being studied by the agency as a means of bringing forward construction.
There is a legal requirement to have an alternative free route to a toll road, if this option is accepted.
Section two will be a new expressway parallel to the old highway with lower geometric and access standards than section one, running north of Warkworth to just north of Wellsford.
Mr Joyce says early signs are that the first stage will be complete within nine years, but the second stage will be more challenging to finish in that time.
The NZTA forecasts the cost of the corridor at the most likely level is $1.38b.
It says motorists using SH1 face traffic delays caused by a combination of factors related to the difficult terrain, steep gradients, a high number of heavy commercial vehicles travelling at low speeds, lack of overtaking opportunities and the urban sections in Warkworth and Wellsford.
Agency touts the benefits
The NZ Transport Agency says completing the Puhoi to Wellsford road of national significance will
deliver significant benefits.
These include:
- Enhancing inter regional and national economic growth and productivity.
- Improving movement of freight and people between Auckland and Northland.
- Improving the connectivity between key growth areas in the north Rodney area.
- Improving reliability of the transport network through a more robust and safer route between Auckland and Northland.
- Providing further route security for Northland residents.
Anniversary weekend prompts driver safety message
The police and Rodney District Council are advising motorists to take care during Auckland Anniversary Weekend, particularly as patchy weather is forecast.
Traffic is expected to be heavy on SH1 from Puhoi to Wellsford, so motorists are encouraged to use the alternative SH16 route if possible to help reduce travel times.
"Drivers need to exercise patience, have regular breaks, plan journeys using alternative routes and avoid peak traffic times where possible.
"This, together with a little consideration, will ensure everyone's safety," says Rodney police acting area commander Phil Paratene.
During holiday periods many people tow trailers. The speed limit for vehicles with trailers is 90kmh.
Vehicles with trailers need to be considerate of other vehicles and pull over if queues form behind them.
AA Traffic, the first step in the development of real time traffic information in New Zealand, now includes motorway congestion and flow details for SH1 and 16 in Auckland.
Four colours identify the motorway's traffic congestion -ranging from green for free flowing traffic, through to orange for moderate, red for heavy, and black for gridlock. Congestion information is on aamaps.co.nz and aaroadwatch.co.nz, and is updated every five minutes.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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$1.38 Billion just to reduce 'holiday traffic jams'....not to mention 10 years to build 38 km of dual carriage ways (just how pathetic can we get). I would much prefer that common sense prevailed....Get rid of the toll for 'the rabbit holes' this cause most of the congestion. Spend the money on a meaningful upgrade of the road, (employ a company that owns more than one wheelbarrow to do the job) the benefits given for this motorway are just 'corporate power speak' so as to grease the wheels for heaps of public money to be grabbed just so we in Northland can get to Auckland 15 minutes quicker 2 or 3 times a year!
Ben, you obviously don't live in the area and have to travel this road. Well I do. This will make a huge difference to the area. So it is going to take a while, so what? Can I tell you a secret? There is no magic wand that Steven Joyce can wave to make it happen overnight. Been watching to much Lord of the Rings have we? People with your attitude of 'it will take too long' would prevent anything ever getting done if allowed. Thank heavens we have a government who want to get things better for NZ.
Sounds like the so called national government is trying to shove "Holiday Highway" down our throats. Let me get thing clear Joyce, I don't want this highway to be built. The government hasn't even considered alternatives to this but would rather spend billions of dollars of tax payers money to fund white elephants that will only benefit people during the congested holiday season whereas throughout the year the highway is empty.
What about spending more money on providing Auckland with a decent railway system as well such as a Railway Link to the Airport. This motorway will take 10 years or more before we can acutally use it and how are we surposed to benefit from this? It's crazy man just crazy?
This project will no doubt create a back log for important transport public projects for years to come. Very few people live north of Auckland, this project shows a change of government is in order.
Frescoshades NZ Ltd, 41
@Ben "This motorway will take 10 years or more before we can actually use it and how are we supposed to benefit from this?" That seems pretty short sighted and selfish. Perhaps your children will benefit from it?
How come Brisbane, a city which not long ago was smaller in size than Auckland now has a motorway From Tweed Heads to Noosa. Admittedly it's a bit easier to build than in Auckland but surely our vision should be for at least a motorway from Hamilton to Whangarei if we have any hope of competing economically with our Australian neighbours.