Rip it up

More retail, more residents: the suburb of Mt Wellington is expanding rapidly, but its streets already are chock-a-block and need resurfacing. Sophie Bond reports from the gridlock.
Josef Brandon surveys the freshly laid tarmac of Ngahue Drive where, only yesterday, stood a row of stunted saplings. There's a rare moment of quiet as queues of traffic ease.
The 23-year-old, who drives this stretch most days on his way to and from work at Auckland International Airport, feels the roads were poorly planned.
"What should have happened in the first place was for the developers to think about the shops and houses that would be going in, and to leave space for extra lanes."
He says the daily congestion is frustrating and the current widening of Ngahue Drive and Lunn Ave will do little to help. The St Johns resident says the steadily growing Stonefields development will only exacerbate the problem. "It's congested most of the time. They've put all these houses in a hole and there's only one way out of the hole. Who thinks of these things?"
Peter Arbuckle, who has lived on Ngahue Drive for three years, is equally concerned about the apparent lack of planning.  He says months of roadworks have been disruptive and seem illogical.
"They seem to do a little bit here, a little there, instead of doing one thing quickly. I think it's been managed poorly," he says, frustration in his voice. "We weren't notified it was happening until a week before when we got a note in the mail."
Water pipes along the road were also replaced last August. "Again, we were told only at the last moment."
He wonders why the two projects were not combined to reduce disruption to commuters and worries the approaching netball season will be "horrendous" as dozens of vehicles converge on the Auckland Netball Centre in St Johns.
"When we bought the house, we tried to find out about traffic flow and it was all very vague and we were told there were no concrete plans."
Stonefields was developed by the Todd Property Group in the former Mt Wellington quarry. The firm's website says it will be the "most successful example of master urban planning in the country".
The company's corporate and government affairs manager, Sifa Taumoepeau, says it is paying for widening Ngahue Drive.
"We have already provided cash contributions to council for their future upgrade of the following intersections: Abbotts Way/Ladies Mile, Abbotts Way/Grand Drive, Lunn Ave/Ellerslie-Panmure Highway, Lunn Ave/Marua Rd/Harding Ave and College Rd/St Johns Rd.
"We have contributed proportionate to our individual effects - that is, future population growth and traffic increases in the wider area is not limited to Stonefields."
Auckland Transport's public affairs adviser, Sonya Leahy, says Todd is required to widen several roads and add traffic lights at the Lunn/ Ngahue/Abbots intersection under its planning consents. Auckland Transport plans an off-road cycle lane beside Ngahue Drive and changes to the bus network as the Stonefields development grows.
Unstoppable growth
There are 450 occupied houses in the Stonefields development. In another 10 years, there will be 2500. A Mitre 10 Mega store opened last year on Lunn Ave, joining the existing Placemakers. A New World supermarket will open next month, and a McDonalds soon after. BP is seeking consent to build on Lunn Ave.