Major rethink on transport and urban intensification needed

Media Statement
10 May 2016

Auckland must urgently revise transport priorities and the Unitary Plan to better align where people live, work and how they move around, otherwise gridlock will bring the city to a halt, according to a new report from the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development.

“We launched the study of Auckland’s transport challenge last year to provide independent input into the Government and Auckland Council’s review of transport investment priorities – the Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP). The analysis is also central to NZCID’s submission on the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan.

“ATAP’s first report, released in February, showed that by 2026 State Highway 1, as well as other critical parts of the network, will be in gridlock all day every day.

“If that were allowed to happen, the Auckland economy will grind to a halt and liveability would be seriously degraded.

“Projects like the Waterview connection and public transport improvements now underway buy a little bit of time. But we need to act more swiftly if we are to avoid gridlock within a decade.

“A significant part of the problem is that the proposed Unitary Plan and Special Housing Areas allow urban infill and development which cannot be economically served by transport and don't allow sufficient density adjacent to rail and busway stations.

“This forces car dependency and makes congestion much worse than it needs to be.

“To decongest Auckland and improve liveability the report recommends that we must:

o Substantively revise land use provisions as set out in the Auckland and Unitary plans to target intensification around public transport and sequence growth to match transport availability
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o Loosen residential development and height restrictions in areas with quality public transport access and strengthen restrictions in areas without it
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o Enable satellite city development at scale beside rail with a focus on the Pukekohe to Manukau corridor
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o Develop mixed use "live, walk and work" communities
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o Improve the frequency and convenience of public transport services to major centres of employment, education and entertainment
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o Vastly increase park and ride facilities and provide express bus services across the public transport network
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o Deliver new capacity across the road network with a focus on fixing traffic pinch points and rigorously evaluate all options, including an eastern-aligned harbour crossing connecting to an eastern corridor
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o Implement road pricing to increase network capacity, fund ongoing improvement and accommodate electric vehicles
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o Promote teleworking and work from home initiatives leveraging digital connectivity
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o Invest in leading edge intelligent traffic management systems
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o Embrace and leverage new car technology wherever possible, but recognise that it does not yet provide a silver bullet solution to Auckland's transport issues
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o Ensure land use and transport policy is adaptive to technological and other changes as and when they become clear
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“Auckland can have a road system which moves and a reliable high quality public transport network which gets people to work on time.

“But to achieve that outcome we need to sort out the Unitary Plan to target high amenity intensification around public transport, increase motorway and arterial network capacity, leverage new technology to the max and price the network to manage demand and fund new investment,” Selwood Says.

NZCID’s Transport Solutions for a Growing City report is available for download here

“Keeping Auckland Moving” - a ten-minute video on problems and solutions to gridlock is availablehere

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