MARCH MADNESS DESCENDS ON CITY OF CONES
city.
AT, for its part, was less definitive on the level of consultation it received, a spokesperson saying the Herald should direct questions to the CRL on the matter.
Auckland Transport’s efforts to mitigate March Madness
AT has been well aware of a traffic meltdown brewing in 2020.
A memo obtained by the Herald presented to the AT board on February 12 outlines that AT has “worked with bus operators to revise bus sizes and add an additional 8 per cent peak capacity across the network between March 2019 and November 2019”. This equates to about 5000 seats in both the morning and afternoon peak commutes.
The increase in seat capacity was however publicised by AT in a press release on Monday as a response to “the busiest time of the year as Aucklanders head back to work and study” — aka Mad March.
It is not clear in the release that these 5000 extra seats have actually been available on Auckland’s network since November 2019.
Nevertheless, AT also says there will be a “few additional buses to help out over the next few weeks” in Mad March.
The extra 5000 bus seats are being distributed to the 15 busiest routes including Onewa and Dominion roads and the 70 service which runs from Botany to Britomart.
The first of Auckland’s four scheduled new trains from Spain will also be rolled out next week, along with adding some extra train cars on the existing fleet. This will add 1200 seats in morning and afternoon peak times.
The NX2 bus service from the AUT
University city campus to Albany will also be extended, with nine services each weekday morning and eight return services in the afternoon peak.
Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck has also revealed AT has closely monitored the traffic flow in the CBD this past week to gauge overall traffic flow and test how the already diverted bus routes around Wellesley St/Albert St intersection are moving.
“It will test the quality of planning and public transport capacity. We expect it to work and if it doesn’t work it will be fixed very quickly,” Beck said.
Some pinch points needed to be addressed, including the top and bottom end of Queen St.
Beck said it was a challenging time for businesses in the central city, with a power outage, the convention centre fire, coronavirus and the level of construction.
Herald trials new diverted CBD bus routes
On Thursday, the Herald trialled the new bus route in the morning rush hour for the Outer Link service, one of 30 bus services diverted from
February 23 due to the closure of the Wellesley St intersection tomorrow.
The Outer Link normally crosses town on Wellesley St from Victoria Park to Albert Park. The diverted route ran up Victoria St to Hobson St and onto Mayoral Drive and down Queen St to re-join Wellesley St.
The dog leg is longer, but in light traffic just after 8am the journey the week before Mad March was a breeze, taking eight minutes from Victoria Park to rejoin Wellesley St.
City of chaos
The heightened AT traffic scrutiny comes amid a construction boom in the city, hastened by a desire by Auckland Council to have numerous large streetscape projects ready by the end of 2020 — just in time for the America’s Cup in January 2021.
The traffic cone minefield is founded on the two major projects of the CRL along the length of Albert St — lasting until 2024 — and the plethora of downtown street and marina upgrades for the America’s Cup.
However, more than 50 other roadwork and public-space projects have been scheduled by AT across city streets in 2020.
This is not to mention the private developments which make up 30 to 70 per cent of CBD construction projects approved for resource consent by Auckland Council.
Right now at least 30 public roadworks projects are disrupting CBD streets and public spaces.
In February, the Herald reported there were about one million road cones dotted around the country, with annual sales worth about $4 million.
Politicians step in
Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye on January 25 scheduled a crisis meeting with AT, calling for a review of the consent planning for government and private developments that had led to the city logjam.
“Better co-ordination and sequencing of AT, City Rail Link Limited (CRLL) and private development works is needed to deliver a more efficient way of dealing with congestion and impacts of roadworks,” Kaye said in January.
Yesterday, Kaye confirmed she had scheduled a meeting with Auckland Mayor Phil Goff for March 9 to talk through how to reduce congestion and improve works across Auckland.
Kaye said additional night works to speed up projects were already being considered.
“Auckland Transport has given me an update that they are progressing conversations about further night works where appropriate in the city. It is important that these are works with minimal noise,” Kaye said. “I am raising other issues of individual works raised by constituents.”
Mayor Goff said the level of development in Auckland at the moment was “unprecedented” with $16 billion invested in the CBD over the next five years by Auckland Council and the Government.
“The reality is we can’t afford to sit on our hands. Auckland added a city the size of Hamilton to its population between 2013 and 2018 and by the end of this decade more than 2 million people will call Auckland home,” Goff said.
“Closing the intersection at Wellesley St and Albert S t is critical to the delivery of the CRL and any delay would jeopardise the ability to begin construction of the Aotea Station on time, with possible implications for delivering the project on time and on budget.
“Without it, the disruption caused by congestion will be permanent, not temporary.”
Outside the city
Beyond the CBD, March 1 will also be the start date for the NZ Transport’s Agency’s resurfacing of State Highway 16 through Kumeu West Auckland.
NZTA’s Northland system manager Jacqui Hori-Hoult described the works as the “biggest maintenance programme the Transport Agency has undertaken for the last decade”
The resurfacing work will last from March 1 to 12, and begin again between March 16 and 27
Water transport into the city may also be impacted during Mad March, with some ferry passengers stranded at Hobsonville Pt.
Commuters get ready
The level of overall vehicle congestion on Auckland roads is most likely to reach its peak this week based on statistics from 2019.
International traffic congestion site TomTom judged March 8 as the worst day for traffic congestion on Auckland roads in 2019 — which was the Friday of last year’s first week of Mad March.
In their 2019 Annual Report on traffic congestion, the AA estimated the average Auckland motorway commuter wasted three days and 13 hours a year in traffic congestion. However, the overall trend is at least moving in a positive direction.
In 2019, TomTom determined Auckland to be the 105th worst city in the world for traffic congestion.
This ranking has been improving steadily since 2014 when Auckland was ranked as high as 22nd worst.