Auckland City commits to improvements for SH20

Auckland City’s Transport Committee has given the green light to a $13.4 million upgrade of Tiverton Road and Wolverton Street, which includes widening to accommodate four traffic lanes during peak periods.

The initiative is the result of a study undertaken to develop options for managing the expected increase in traffic, due to the proposed State Highway 20 (SH20) Mt Roskill extension.

Transport Committee chairperson Councillor Greg McKeown said it’s important that council ensures local roads support the region’s transport network.

“State Highway 20 is an important link in our road network and decisions need to be made to progress this initiative,” Mr McKeown said. “With the introduction of SH20, which connects Hillsborough to the North Western Motorway, a number of changes are needed to make sure local roads run efficiently and safely.

“The volume of traffic on Tiverton Road is set to double to a predicted 25,000 to 30,000 vehicles per day by 2010, making it a key link road with west Auckland.”

After public consultation, which was held in October and November last year, the preferred scheme for the route has been identified and involves:

widening the road to accommodate four traffic lanes in peak periods introducing traffic signals at three intersections along the route enhancing streetscape and landscape amenity undergrounding of utility services improving pedestrian and cycling facilities providing flush medians and on-street parking erecting a 3.5m high retaining wall reducing berm widths purchasing small portions of properties from a number of private land owners. Negotiations with private landowners will begin later in the year.

The four major intersections along the route were also evaluated for upgrading. The preferred options are:

St Georges Road signals will stay and the road will be widened to improve capacity and efficiency Blockhouse Bay intersection will have signals to provide sufficient capacity and improve pedestrian access Whitney Street and New Windsor Road intersections have a number of possible traffic signal options and these will be developed at the detailed design stage provision to install traffic signals at Taylor Street will be assessed during the next stage of design.

Work is planned to tie in with the completion of SH20, due to be finished by 2008/2009.

The project will be partly funded by Transfund.

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