Need for Shore transport links emphasised by board

The next Waitemata Harbour crossing needs to be planned with flow-on connectivity to North Shore suburbs in mind, the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board says.

It wants routes to the Devonport peninsula and Takapuna to be considered, along with cycle paths and rail links north.

“We want to reach the greatest number of people,” board chair Toni van Tonder said at a workshop to provide feedback to Auckland Council on national transport agency Waka Kotahi’s five options for a tunnel or bridge crossing of the harbour.

Board member Peter Allen said people needed to know what would come next rather than “having to wait 30 years”.

A preferred crossing option is due to be announced mid-year.

The board said it could not pick a favourite as too little information had been provided, and that the crossing could not be looked at in isolation.

Van Tonder said she wanted the Devonport peninsula considered. A link from Akoranga station to Belmont could be planned early, rather than as stage two of the crossing project, she said. Land-use planning was vital in any decision-making, she said.

Devonport was not growing, but the rest of the peninsula was intensifying.

The board’s feedback emphasised the need for rail to flow on to the Takapuna metropolitan centre. It is expected that from whatever harbour connnection is chosen, rail – light or heavy – will run up the Northern Busway, to Sunnynook and Albany, with a spur to Takapuna, possibly across to Smales Farm station.

East-west as well as north-south transport connections needed to be part of the planning, the board submitted.

Deputy chair Terence Harpur suggested lines to Glenfield and Greenhithe. He said given previous studies Waka Kotahi should have more meaningful information at hand to share about how the options would work..

Member George Wood said: “All roads lead to Akoranga station/interchange.

“A tunnel there is going to be a giant construction.”

Member Mel Powell said a lot of planning would be needed to have so much infrastrucutre concentrated in what was a fragile wetland area.

Its history as a landfill site was also noted.

Wood said cyclingacross the Esmonde Rd interchange was already a nightmare.

The board called for rapid progress on the Northern Pathway cycle route between Constellation Dr and Akoranga/Esmonde Rd.

“Significant cycling infrastructure should not have to wait,” its feedback stated.

It opposed the option of a second bridge built for light rail, walking and cycling, and three general traffic lanes next to the existing bridge, deeming this less resilient to climate change, sea-level rise, and high winds.

The board did not directly address the option of two tunnels, one for light rail from Wynyard Quarter via Belmont and Takapuna to Smales Farm, and another for traffic from St Mary’s Bay to Akoranga Dr, east of the existing bridge. Transport pundits consider this option involving the Devonport peninsula an unlikely choice, as it will be the costliest and slowest to build.

The government says it wants to begin building a second crossing before the end of the decade.

Public submissions on the options have closed.