LOCKED on the LAKE

Devonport residents declare $47m traffic solution ‘not good enough’

A$47 million make-over of one of Auckland’s worst bottleneck roads has been judged totally inadequate by fed up North Shore residents. Lake Rd runs the length of the Devonport Peninsula connecting it to the central city and broader Auckland region.

For decades, traffic jams have clogged the route as over 20,000 locals drive along a frequently congested arterial route.

But a $47m project from Auckland Transport (AT) aims to improve the street by implementing new transit lanes along sections of Lake Rd and Esmonde Rd connecting it to State Highway 1.

Physically separated cycle lanes are part of the plan along with safety improvements to intersections.

There will be no addition to the number of lanes for the vast majority of the 4km that

Lake Rd extends down Devonport Peninsula.

This is a problem that 55 per cent of Devonport residents deemed not good enough in an Automobile Association (AA) survey of 684 locals on the project.

Only 20 per cent of the survey responses strongly supported the AT road upgrade.

There was far more support, 61 per cent, for a scaled up Lake Rd upgrade that would result in long stretches of four-laning as well as separated cycle lanes.

This option, however, would cost nearly $100m.

Auckland City councillor for the North Shore ward, Chris Darby, was instrumental in getting the $47m Lake Rd project to the point of a funding application to the Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP).

The RLTP has the benefit of existing outside council’s budget.

“We can’t just sit on our hands on this project and there is no inexhaustible supply of funding from Auckland Council or Waka Kotahi [ NZ Transport Agency],” Darby said.

“We’re under real financial pressure and I feel it’s an achievement to get this thing back on the books. It’s been thought about, talked about for far too long. We’ve got to actually see something in the ground on this one.”

The only times of the week resi

It’s clear to us that what’s being proposed here is going to go down like a cup of cold sick with a lot of the local community AA principal advisor Barney Irvine

dents in the AA survey didn’t report “major traffic issues” with Lake Rd was during the middle of the day on week days and on Sunday mornings.

AA principal advisor Barney Irvine said AT should look at presenting the four-lane $100m odd upgrade to locals funded by a targeted rate.

Irvine admitted Devonport Peninsula locals are “not enthusiastic about a targeted rate” with 29 per cent responding they wouldn’t be prepared to pay anything.

But he said “the results suggest that they might be able to stomach it” if it was put to public consultation.

“It’s clear to us that what’s being proposed here is going to go down like a cup of cold sick with a lot of the local community,” Irvine said.

“So you just have to explore a targeted rate. If it was made clear to them within the consultation process that this could be the only way of getting something more we could find that quite a few more people are prepared to look at it.

“I think there’s a very real question of whether it’s better to spend $47m on something that no one will be happy with, or instead to wait it out and see if the situation might change.”

Darby says the reality is if a Lake Rd solution funding application isn’t made to the RLTP by mid-2021, Devonport locals could be waiting another decade for a solution.

“I think it’s a good test [AA survey], but what it did demonstrate is there isn’t a willingness to pay more,” Darby said. “That’s pretty clear. So who is going to pay? I’m pretty confident I’ll get $47m back on this project but to go and ask for $77m, $97m, $100m we could be twiddling our thumbs in five, 10 years time.”

AT said while there is sufficient funding in the RLTP for the $47m Lake Rd upgrade it is unclear when this will be available.

While Darby was confident a successful application to RLTP for the Lake Rd upgrade could be made by mid-2021, AT said the project is “on hold at the moment”.

“Once the project is able to re-start at some point in the future, AT will consider any new information — updated travel demands, changes in central or local government policy, changes in budget,” an AT spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said AT could not set targeted rates for a project.

But AT said they did consider a $100m upgrade to Lake Rd with added lanes “unlikely to meet current strategic objectives, including value for money”.

Photo / Brett Phibbs There was far more support for a scaled up Lake Rd upgrade that would result in long stretches of four-laning as well as separated cycle lanes. This option, however, would cost nearly $100m.