NW busway accelerated
A busway along the Northwest Motorway in Auckland is being accelerated.
A new agreement between the council and the Government means the section between Westgate and Te Atatu is set for completion between 2018 and 2028.
This is nearly a decade earlier than the earmarked 2025 to 2035 in the Auckland Plan Transport Network.
Te Atatu MP Phil Twyford says he is ‘‘delighted’’ the busway is being brought forward, as getting it built has been his ‘‘major issue’’ since he started campaigning in 2010.
‘‘It’s not happening fast enough, but at least it’s a recognition by the decision makers that it’s got to be done sooner rather than later,’’ he says.
‘‘So we are making progress.’’ Finance Minister Bill English says Auckland’s population is set to grow by 700,000 over the next 30 years.
‘‘It’s essential that we prioritise new and better infrastructure to deliver value for money and address these challenges,’’ he says.
The new agreement is called the Auckland Transport Alignment Plan and is for projects in the region costing more than $200 million decades.
It also calls for extending the busway between 2028 and 2038 from Pt Chevalier to Newton Rd and from Westgate to Brigham Creek Rd on the Northwest Motorway. The busway would be extended all the way up to Kumeu the decade after.
A grade-separated busway is much faster than a bus lane as over the next three buses using it do not merge in and out of traffic at exits and onramps.
The current causeway widening work includes bus shoulder lanes between Te Atatu and Pt Chevalier, but Twyford says it should be a busway.
‘‘That’s a huge source of frustration that they made a very short-sighted – and I would say, stupid – decision.’’
Twyford is Labour’s associate spokesperson for transport and says it’s policy to bring the SH16 busway forward ’’as a matter of immediate priority’’. He would also like to see planning for a busway along the entire Upper Harbour Motorway. Twyford says gridlock on the roads is the issue that drives west Aucklanders crazy with SH16 resembling a giant parking lot at peak hour.