Auckland Transport – South does it again

With the opening of Puhinui Interchange marking the formal start of the Airport Link services, I took a site visit down to Puhinui Road to see how it was going with the new bus lanes added. I had also received some comments about some interesting driver behaviour on Puhinui Road which affected the general safety and performance of the corridor (including to utilities).

Consequently I sent some questions off to Auckland Transport to see if we can get some fine tuning done for Puhinui Road like with Lambie Drive. Auckland Transport has replied in regards to the questions asked. As this can be tracked via a Local Government Information and Meetings Act request aka LGOIMA I will post it in full below for your reading:

1)    No right turns into all side roads except Wallace Avenue and Scott Road from Puhinui Road in peak times (also avoids sun strike).

Existing right turn movements into side-streets have been retained on Puhinui Road, except at Milan Road due to it being near new traffic signals. Right turn movements will create queuing in some cases, but are not expected to have a significant negative impact on buses or general traffic. The combination of bus lanes and right-turn bays will prevent buses being affected by queuing in most cases. Where traffic signals or right-turn bays have not been provided, these side streets mostly serve residential properties and have a lower volume of traffic. Raised table crossings are set back from Puhinui Road to allow a single right-turning vehicle to pull up to the table and then cross slowly.

2)    Enhanced enforcement on the Puhinui Road bus lanes please especially off peak and at school time outside Puhinui School.

The painted bus lane road markings have not yet been completed, to allow enforcement of parking in the bus lanes. The markings have been delayed due to wet weather and will be completed by the end of next week. A standard three week warning period will then begin, followed by active enforcement of the bus lanes.

3)    No Parking off the Roadway signs as now we have berm parkers damaging berms and utilities underneath.

Prohibition of off-road parking on Puhinui Road is considered appropriate. A process will be started to implement signage and allow enforcement.

4)    Permanent CCTV cameras for the bus lanes like Manukau Station Road (I know Lambie Drive is getting theirs soon)

Puhinui Road is on AT’s future programme for automated CCTV bus lane enforcement. Timing is still to be confirmed, and automated enforcement might not be implemented until mid-2022.

I will chase up with Auckland Transport on where the Manukau Station Road bus lanes are at as that has gone a bit quiet. But in the meantime some fine tuning on the way for Puhinui Road