Advocating for our major transport needs
Earlier this month our Local Board presented to Auckland Council and Auckland Transport on major transportation and roading infrastructure issues our Local Board is facing.
We presented to Council's Transport and Infrastructure Committee to advocate for Council, as the purse string holders, to appropriately fund Auckland Transport so key transportation needs can be met in our area and across the region. The major and necessary transport projects in our area are of course Glenvar Road realignment and Vaughans Road/ Okura River Road upgrade and we also discussed the need for a Whangaparaoa bus interchange and our stance against proposals to cut the Gulf Harbour ferry service.
Here's the presentation to the Auckland Council Transport and Infrastructure committee, 19 October, led by Julia Parfitt (from about 39:30)
I led the presentation to the Auckland Transport Board, 31 October. It was reassuring hearing from the Acting Chair, Wayne Donnelly following the presentation how aware they are of these matters and they've sought staff to engage with Waka Kotahi on the matter of the Whangaparaoa bus interchange. There's no recording unfortunately but what may be of interest also is that the AT Board had relevant papers as part of their Board pack on Vaughans Road funding scenarios and ferry services.
What happened in our Local Board business meeting this month
At this meeting we adopted our Hibsicus and Bays Local Board Plan after many long months of development and consultation with the community. A couple of items worth noting from our October business meeting are as follows.
Local Board Transport Capital Fund (LBTCF)
Auckland Transport manages the LBTCF on behalf of the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board. The confirmed budget for Hibiscus and Bays Local Board is now $1,888,965 which includes the additional approved budget of $35,000 to cover current contractual commitments. This replaces the indicative budget of $2,830,661 discussed in the June 2023 Auckland Transport report. The reduction in the Local Board Transport Capital Fund reflects the pressure Auckland Transport and its funding partners are under due to flood recovery work following the severe weather events in early 2023, inflation and the rising cost of doing business.
The good news that we received at the meeting from a question raised, is that the Browns Bay Slow Town project is still moving ahead (more information to come when I can share) which means that items like a long-awaited formal pedestrian crossing from Browns Bay Plaza to the beach on Beachfront Lane will be funded and delivered through this project, rather than the Local Board having to fund it out of this small LBTCF pot of money.
That the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board:
a) allocate the Local Board Transport Capital Fund 2022-2025 as follows:
i) approve $800,000 for a raised pedestrian crossing, footpath on the island, driver feedback sign at of Whangaparāoa Road and Hibiscus Coast Highway and a new footpath this crossing to 57A Hibiscus Coast Highway.
ii) approve $375,000 to construct a raised pedestrian crossing at Saddleback Rise, Murrays Bay
iii) approve $148,965 to make safety improvements for East Coast Bays Schools
iv) approve $30,000 for Torbay Plaza enhancement project
v) approve $350,000 for a pedestrian crossing at 141 Deep Creek Road, Torbay
vi) approve $150,000 for a new pedestrian refuge island on Whangaparāoa Road, Manly, near the Fire Station
b) confirm priorities for further projects should funds become available as:
i) $450,000 for one-way traffic treatment at Bakehouse Lane, Ōrewa
ii) $600,000 for a safe crossing at or near 672 Beach Road, Browns Bay
c) note that $35,000 additional budget has been approved to cover current contractual commitments for Ōrewa Boulevard Stage 3.
Regional Public Transport Plan (RPTP)
Member Jake Law led the feedback development on this and did a great job. We took a strong stance on the draft RPTP proposal to end the Gulf Harbour Ferry Service when O-Mahurangi Penlink opens. We clearly requested that the ferry service not be withdrawn given the overwhelming public feedback from affected community members and industry experts (half of the submissions to the RPTP were regarding this!). We also advocated for the Whangaparaoa bus interchange and the Glenvar Road realignment project.
Heads up: East Coast Road, Redvale 'average-speed cameras' coming
Auckland Transport is working with Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency to improve safety and are installing more, and different types of safety cameras.
Evidence shows where safety cameras have been used overseas, they have proven to significantly reduce the rate of deaths and serious injuries, by reducing speed and the impact of a crash. In the first round of changes, nine new static speed safety cameras were installed on local roads in Auckland. In this round, they have identified 12 new sites. One of these is in Redvale along East Coast Road (80kmph posted speed limit).
1st Camera address: 1232 East Coast Road
2nd camera address: 1627 East Coast Road
Average-speed safety cameras work by calculating speed across the length of a road between two cameras. The time taken for a driver to travel between the cameras is measured, and the average speed is calculated. Construction to prepare the sites (including the foundations, bases, power, and communications) is expected to begin in October 2023. The cameras are expected to be operational after a rigorous process of being checked (calibrated) and certified. This is expected to be after March 2024.
Healthy Waters projects
Below is a snapshot of activity between April and June 2023 for regionally funded Healthy Waters projects in our Local Board area.
The projects below* allow our infrastructure to cope with the increasing demands of growth, support development, mitigate flooding risk, and improve and protect our environment. Both the council and its contractors will be in regular contact with communities to keep them up to date during delivery of these projects.
The Healthy Waters’ budget for the 2022/2023 financial year has been impacted severely by Auckland Council’s economic position and new tendering of projects receiving significantly increased construction costs. The culmination of these factors has put a lot of pressure on the existing programme of works and forced a reprioritisation of the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 financial year programmes. To mitigate the effects, work is being done to get projects ‘shelf-ready’ so that they can be delivered as budget becomes available; this includes completing the project design, obtaining resource consent, and utilising our relationships with other stakeholders to ensure projects can be delivered quickly.
* note that any work relating to private properties is not listed.
East Coast Bays
Hibiscus Coast
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