29 April 2005

Transit creates more buses only motorway lanes

Commuting by bus to and from the west of Auckland will become a whole lot easier when new bus shoulder lanes are opened up along the Northwestern Motorway (SH16) towards the end of June. The total cost of the project is $1.1m.

Transit New Zealand has begun constructing the 1.3km shoulder lanes that will run between the Great North Road (Waterview) and Rosebank interchanges. “They will allow buses to bypass stationary or slow moving traffic during peak hours, allowing quicker travel times for passengers,” says Transit Regional Manager, Richard Hancy.

Mr Hancy says that Transit is looking at constructing further bus shoulder lanes along the Northwestern Motorway as part of its overall strategy of increasing bus priorities on Auckland’s motorway network.

City-bound bus priority lanes already exist between Lincoln Road and Te Atatu Road, and Patiki Road and Rosebank Road. Others on the planning board are outward-bound shoulder lanes from Rosebank Road to Patiki Road and city-bound from Te Atatu Road to Patiki Road. As part of the Central Motorway upgrading project, provision for an outward-bound shoulder lane for buses will be made along the motorway from Newton to St Lukes.

On the Northern Motorway, work is underway on the construction of the Esmonde Road interchange and Northern Busway, which will run from Albany to Britomart.

ENDS

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