Category: General

Everything else

Speculation Second Harbour Crossing (as Road only) Could Be Accelerated

·

Labour questions Government on leaked document that states Prime Minister is set to announce advancing second harbour crossing in August (on the campaign)

 

I caught this from Labour’s Phil Twyford and thought that was the joke rather than Minister of Transport Gerry Brownlee offering up his resignation:

 

As expected Twitter lit up with a lot of people Tweeting their displeasure over this apparent upcoming announcement.

Road Only Auckland Harbour Crossing “Makes No Sense”

The Campaign for Better Transport said today that the Government’s idea of an additional road only Waitemata Harbour Crossing hasn’t been thought through.

“We all know that the Northern Motorway and approaches are notoriously congested at peak times, so local support probably stems from the belief that this congestion will somehow be solved,” said spokesperson Cameron Pitches.

“However, the net effect of a road only crossing will be that in the morning peak, the Auckland CBD will be flooded with thousands of extra single occupant cars looking for a car park. The Central Motorway Junction will also be a bottleneck without more lanes, but there is no room for more.

“And in the evening peak the already congested Northern Motorway will grind to a halt, as six lanes converge into three.”

Mr Pitches says a far better solution would be a rail only crossing that would extend from the City Rail Link to Albany on the North Shore.

“The Northern Busway is enormously popular and is a great example of a system that can carry far more people at peak times than single occupant cars. High capacity rail would be the logical next step.”

Mr Pitches said that a recent report identified that the cost of a rail link connecting the City Rail Link to Albany on the North Shore would be about $2.5bn.

“It is clear that the Government’s proposal and any alternatives have not been through Treasury’s better business case process.  There is no urgency with the project either as the yet to be completed Western Ring Route is designed to reduce traffic volumes on the bridge,” said Mr Pitches.

The Government is yet to make an official announcement on how a new crossing would be funded, but Mr Pitches suspects it would have to be tolled due to the multi-billion dollar cost of the project.

“The Government also needs to be honest and reveal how much the toll will be for the new crossing, and if the current Harbour Bridge will be tolled as well.”

“It just makes no sense.  The Government has just been caught out not doing a comprehensive assessment of alternatives for the Basin Reserve.  You would think they would want to avoid making the same mistake twice,” concludes Mr Pitches.

For more analysis of the proposed Harbour Crossing, visit transportblog.co.nz: http://bit.ly/1niNuZq

—ends—

 

And of course I picked up this from Councillor George Wood: This will mean that the SkyPath will now not be required Keith. Savings all around.

I am also not particularly amused that all the millions spent on revitalising the City Centre and surrounds to turn it from its car dominated past into a more humanised place will be wasted with the City Centre to be turned back into a car sewer rat run thanks to the second crossing funnelling all the cars from the North Shore back into the City Centre…

 

Our New Electric Trains Breaking Down in Peak Services? [Updated]

· 3 Comments ·

I thought tests were meant to eliminate this?

 

I caught this Tweet last evening during the PM peak services:

 

I do expect faults to come up during electric train testing. I somewhat expect maybe one spitting the dummy in the peak services. But I do not expect two EMU’s to break down with apparently similar faults inside Britomart during the peak evening services (or morning if it was morning) causing the issues that happened (cancellations and apparent bus replacements).

 

So the question is Auckland Transport what will be done to prevent this kind of failure again. Especially as such failings or near failings have been noted as seen here: http://www.bettertransport.org.nz/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2460&start=2760

The last thing you want is two EMU 6-car sets fully loaded with 750 passengers each breaking down with that same traction fault but this time on the Southern Line (the busiest of all lines) during the peak services…

 

Come on Auckland Transport let’s get this sorted while the EMU’s are still on the Onehunga Line

 

[Update] Diesel Unit (and ADL Class) Replacing Electric Train for Onehunga Service tonight

It seems we are still beset with issues with the electric trains that should have been sorted in testing.

This from earlier this evening:

Looking at the replies to the Tweet it seems an ADL diesel unit (the predecessor unit that plied the Onehunga Line before the Electrics went into service late April) has been replacing the EMU’s on Onehunga runs owing to no Electric unit available.

September is when the Manukau Line is meant to get the electric trains running revenue services. I hope by then the issues are sorted…

 

 

Further Unitary Plan Submissions Close July 22

·

Get that submission in – however, conditions apply

 

From Auckland Council

Not too late for further submission to Unitary Plan

 

Further submissions to the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan close on 22 July 2014.

These are limited to being either in support or opposition to changes to the plan, as requested in the over 9,400 original submissions which contained requests for nearly 100,000 changes.

Only people or entities with an interest greater than the general public or who represent a matter of public interest can make a further submission.

For information on making a further submission visit aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/unitaryplan

Further submissions will be presented to the Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel which will consider all submissions to the plan over the next two years.

The final unitary plan is not expected to be made operative until late 2016.

 

—ends—

 

I will leave with this those quote:

Political Quote of the Day: “There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it.” Charles F. Kettering

 

A Step Closer for the some 3000 Houses to be Built

·

First set of Special Housing Area Homes to go up in Hobsonville Point?

 

From Auckland Council

First Housing Accord plan variation to create up to 3000 new homes

 

A group of landowners in Hobsonville have become the first to lodge a plan variation application in an Auckland Special Housing Area (SHA), bringing plans to create up to 3000 new homes a step closer.

If accepted, the proposal will vary 155Ha of the Scott Point SHA for mixed residential and associated uses. This will allow for the development of standalone houses, terraced houses and possibly apartments, and allows for open space, neighbourhood centre and protected ecological zones. The area is currently zoned as Future Urban within the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan.

The Scott Point SHA was among one of the first announced following the signing of the Auckland Housing Accord, which provides for the creation of SHAs by Auckland Council with the approval of Government.

This enables qualifying developments in the SHAs to be streamlined and fast-tracked. Three tranches of SHAs have so far been announced, with 63 established in total to date. These areas will help boost Auckland’s land and housing supply including the provision of quality affordable homes over the next three years.

After working with Council’s Housing Project Office (HPO), six of the area’s 38 landowners have teamed up to apply for the variation, which could lead to the development of up to 3000 new dwellings over time.

David Clelland, Growth and Infrastructure Manager at the HPO said: “This is a large-scale project that is challenging because of the many different land owners involved.”

“This plan variation application, one of many we expect to come into the HPO in the coming months, is a significant development because it is the first to be submitted in an SHA,” he said.

“Under the previous process it would have taken many years to reach this point, which highlights the difference the HPO is already making. We now expect the area to develop rapidly once a decision on the plan variation is made in the next six months.”

Mr Clelland said the HPO masterplanning and consenting teams have been working hard with the applicants to ensure that the plans for development respond to the challenge in a practical way that will reflect its wonderful location, context and leave a neighbourhood that is valued by existing and future residents.

Abu Hoque, Harrison Grierson’s Project Manager and Lead Urban Designer for the Scott Point project said: “It’s been a fascinating journey to progress this enormously challenging project involving a large number of private individual land owners and key stakeholders over the last few months.

“Our aim was to identify the most appropriate development outcome for the area, so that it can become a special place not only for its residents, but also for its visitors and for generations to come. We are extremely fortunate to have the wonderful people of the HPO beside us, who assisted us throughout the project to make it a real collaborative creative planning and design decision making process.”

—ends—

 

Mean while I got this today as my family are in the Takanini Strategic Housing Area

 

Given that I live in a Mixed Housing Urban Zone area it could be interesting in a couple of years if intensification development were to occur with the Papakura Metropolitan Centre no too far away.