The Devonport Flagstaff Page 14
October 22, 2021
AT’s $48-million message on Lake Rd: Forget a dream run, embrace new reality
Latest designs to manage Lake Rd traffic promise improved safety and flow, but congestion won’t ease significantly unless more peninsula residents embrace “mode shift”. Auckland Transport (AT) was adamant it cannot magic away vehicle congestion with its resumed $48 million upgrade project, but says road design that encourages more people to use public transport or car pool, and to cycle and walk, will make a dent in commuter travel times. If short car journeys reduced, it meant “those who needed to drive would have a better journey,” said AT’s manager of strategic projects, Daniel Newcombe. One to two years’ more work was expected on detailed design, and getting consents and engaging contractors. “So you won’t see anything on the ground for a year or more, unless there’s some simple things we can do,” Newcombe told the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board at a briefing on the controversial Lake Rd project this month. One early project could be a cycleway along Bayswater Ave, which has been confirmed to be part of the wider project. If this could begin separately from Belmont intersection issues, Newcombe said “we should be able to do it early.” Design work is also set to proceed this year with Waka Kotahi (the New Zealand Transport Agency) on the project’s Esmonde Rd section to the motorway on-ramps. The entire Lake Rd project was put on hold due to Covid-19 and its budget impacts last year, after years of surveys and consultation resulted in little board agreement or community satisfaction with plans. But AT has been working on revised indicative designs and looking at timelines. After an advance of $2 million was secured from Auckland Council budgets after lobbying by North Shore councillors, AT said it could now begin finalising its Lake Rd designs, including those for choke points at Hauraki corner, the Bardia St/Winscombe St intersection, and Belmont centre. Board reaction to the plans was mostly
DB pro
Blueprint... A design overview, showing upgraded cycle lanes (green), a T2 lane (red) and main intersection improvements (circles). The cycle lane north from Devonport would loop to avoid the roundabout. positive – after months of calling for an update – with members welcoming the detailed overview. However, chair Ruth Jackson wants another meeting with AT to answer further questions. Newcombe gave a clear message to board members that extended wishful tinkering was highly unlikely to satisfy all parties. “This isn’t AT trying to be difficult in any way.” Unless the board could find some other money, the budget and objectives were fixed. Within these caveats, however, improvements could happen. “It’s not just a congestion project,” Newcombe said. Safety was an important driver of the work. More than a third of serious crashes on the road involved pedestrians and cyclists, he said. Half of journeys were local ones.
Cycleways throughout the route would be given protective kerbs (as pictured, page 15). At Lake Rd’s Devonport end, it was planned to divert northbound cyclists through side streets to reduce risk near the roundabout. Raised crossings were also flagged where key side streets ran into Lake Rd, to improve pedestrian safety and slow traffic before it merged into the main carriageway. Such measures might also help deter rat runners trying to avoid the signalled intersections, he said. Newcombe said budget and space limitations meant continuous T2 lanes could not be accommodated within the existing Lake Rd carriageway. The case or appetite for land acquisition also did not stack up, he reminded members. But a T2 lane would be fitted heading
What Devonport-Takapuna Local Board members thought
Jan O’Connor: “Footpaths have to be wide, we’re giving space to cyclists and pedestrians are missing out.”
Trish Deans: “I want to push for as much as we can and have the public understand we have pushed it as far as we can.”
Aidan Bennett: “We’re not going to be able to tick all the boxes, but it ticks a lot of the boxes.”
