Labour MP for Mt Albert David Shearer today urged the Auckland City Council to listen to the needs of the residents affected by the construction of the Waterview off ramp.

“As the local MP, I will be vigorously supporting and getting behind the local community throughout this process.  It is a strong and vibrant community which has been faced with uncertainty for many years due to this project,” David Shearer said. 

In a submission delivered to the ACC hearing on mitigation options for the $2 bllion project, David Shearer said the community has a strong sense of what needs to be done.

“The off ramp at the northern end of Waterview will further isolate the community from the facilities and shopping centre of Pt Chevalier. That is why a pedestrian and cycle-bridge to Pt Chevalier is needed to ensure residents are better connected with their closest shopping area.

“Work has already been done on this by Auckland University and Unitec as it was part of the winning design in a recent urban design competition.”

David Shearer said the wellbeing of children in the area also needs to be considered.

“The air stack of the northern portal needs to be located in a position which has the least effect on school children at Waterview Primary School,” David Shearer said.

“The community has made suggestions on this and should be listened to.

“Metro Football Club will also lose important green space at Alan Wood Reserve and Waterview. These grounds are currently used to capacity.

“It has been recommended that the NZTA and local government should build an artificial football pitch to compensate for losing a well used park and meet an increased demand.

“The community is making a number of strong arguments to lessen the impact of an off ramp cutting their community in two. They must not end up worse off because the Government took the easy option on the Waterview link,” David Shearer said.

As Aucklanders consider who they will be voting for in the upcoming October super city elections, transport is shaping up as one of the major issues.

That is why over the coming weeks on the David Shearer Show, David will be talking to a number of experts about various transport issues affecting the 1.4 million residents of New Zealand’s biggest city.

This week David talks to Barbara Cuthbert from Cycle Action Auckland.

Throughout Europe and across the developed world, cities are moving towards more bicycle-friendly cityscapes as leaders recognise the many benefits associated cycling, not only as recreational activity, but as a mode of transport.

Barbara talks about those benefits and describes, in some detail, what Auckland could look like if we followed the example of cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

Listen live this Thursday at 9.05am or online at www.planetaudio.org.nz Search: Shearer.

Steven Joyce is intent on building the ‘Holiday Highway’ from Puhoi to Wellsford – a road with a negative cost-benefit ratio – at a cost of up to $2.1 billion as part of his Roads of National (Party) Significance. That’s three times the amount he is spending on the KiwiRail nationally.

Here’s the incomprehensible part –

- the reason for the Holiday Highway is to optimise movement and freight to the north. Cutting the rail link simply shifts freight on to our roads. (It occurs to me that maybe that’s part of the Joyce masterplan to lift the Holiday Highway’s negative BCR.)

Read the full post and comments on Red Alert.

I can’t believe that Steven Joyce is going ahead with the Puhoi to Wellsford Road of National Significance. It’s nothing more than a holiday highway to get people to the eastern beaches quicker in the summer. Getting the Auckland public transport system ready to cope with the Rugby World Cup next year is far more important. We’ll be a laughing stock when our international visitors find out that a road to allow Aucklanders to have a swim took priority over a first class public transport system.

Here’s the press release in full.

Uncosted Puhoi to Wellsford plan pure road overkill

Awarding a contract for route investigation work on the so-called Puhoi to Wellsford Road of National Significance is an example of pure ‘road overkill’, say Labour’s transport spokesperson Darren Hughes and Mt Albert MP David Shearer.

Darren Hughes said: “This Government is fast making a travesty of the term roads of national significance.

“Transport Minister Steven Joyce’s new definition of a road of national significance is a road of National Party significance. There’s a huge difference.”

David Shearer said: “Mr Joyce is on record as saying in Parliament that one significant reason for building this road is for people travelling to the eastern beaches.

“That does not meet the criteria of national significance. Making it easier to go for a swim is hardly justification for spending goodness knows how many tens of millions of dollars on a road that will have marginal if any impact on the country’s economy, and not for many, many years at that.

“It is significant that Mr Joyce won’t talk in detail about the cost of even this first stage of the contract,” David Shearer said.

“He knows that in the wider context of Auckland transport issues, this project doesn’t stack up. There is a whole range of public transport projects, like the CBD rail tunnel, that offer far greater benefit to Aucklanders.”

Darren Hughes said he was well aware from travelling around New Zealand that provincial areas were desperately worried about the lack of funding for maintaining local roads, let alone improving them.

“These are roads that are vitally important strategically and economically to regions around the country.

“Mr Joyce fails to grasp this reality. He can see the importance of Aucklanders being able to get to their weekend baches quickly, but when it comes to appreciating the crucial significance of local roads to people who are the backbone of this country, he’s missing in action.”

John Banks recently wrote in the NZ Herald that Auckland needs an inner city underground railway loop. He joins fellow aspiring mayor, Len Brown, the chair of the ARC, Mike Lee and just about every smart thinking Aucklander in believing that Auckland needs this piece of infrastructure urgently.

So why is the National Party so out of step with the rest of Auckland? Stephen Joyce has instead prioritised roads; the most farcical being the new Puhoi to Wellsford motorway. This $2.3 billion folly will swallow up capital that could make the tunnel and electrification a reality. That stretch of road north of Auckland carries about the same number of vehicles as Sandringham Road. It’s full for only a handful of days a year when everyone tries to go north during the holidays – not even economically productive days. He’s planning to waste $100 million on a feasibility study.

The reason for the rail tunnel is simple. Currently, trains come into Britomart anad have to go back out again on the same lines . The loop would allow them to continue under Queen St, K Rd and then join the line again at Mt Eden allowing for a doubling, at least, of trains going through Britomart. That would increase the frequency of trains and lead to greater patronage – 3 or 4 times more. And, as other countries know, it stimulates growth and vitality in the inner city and ar0und stations. Simple really. Maybe too simple.

The only hitch is that diesel trains can’t use an underground loop because of fumes. That’s a key reason why we should move full steam ahead on electrifying Auckland’s rail. But on this Joyce is vague. Possibly 2013 he says. Possibly? He should forget the holiday highway and invest in what Aucklanders want and need – a first class rail service.

Go to Red Alert if you wish to comment on my post and read the comments.