So This One or This One
Cruising through the media outlets this morning I saw this pop up over the East-West Link verse the “Holiday Highway.”
From the NZ Herald
City business lobby prefers freight route
By Mathew Dearnaley 5:30 AM Wednesday Feb 26, 2014
Group says Onehunga-East Tamaki truck corridor more urgent than Govt’s pet road.
Auckland’s main business lobby says a freight corridor through the industrial belt from Onehunga to East Tamaki is far more urgent than the Government’s $760 million “road of national significance” to Warkworth.
But the Auckland Business Forum has admitted erring in a submission on the extension of the Northern Motorway from Puhoi, for which it says predicted economic benefits are far below what a freight road beside the Manukau Harbour would deliver.
The submission claims incorrectly that there are estimated benefits of $4 to $6 for every $1 which the freight link may cost to build – even though a route has yet to be determined, and a likely price is unknown.
That compares with just 60c to $1.10 which the Transport Agency expects to gain from the motorway extension from the Johnstones Hill toll road tunnels to the northern side of Warkworth.
When questioned by the Herald about the southern freight road estimate, business forum project co-ordinator Tony Garnier said it appeared to be incorrect and would need amending in evidence to a board of inquiry hearing in April into the agency’s planning applications for the northern project.
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You can read the full article over at the Herald site.
I am wondering though if there is simmering tension with the allocation of limited funds and resources to large road projects.
That said we could make the limited funds stretch further with some more sane projects such as these two here:
In other news the combined Governing Body and Local Boards are meeting in the Aotea Centre today to ‘set the scene’ for the 2015-2025 Long Term Plan – the master Council budget document
Talking Southern Auckland 