A road to nowhere bridges two Britomart dreams

It became a grotty eyesore but the now-demolished Britomart bus terminal and carpark complex was Auckland's modern answer to crowded city streets, as JULIE MIDDLETON recalls.

All that is left of the Britomart bus terminal is a road to nowhere.

The last thing standing as trucks and earthmovers gobble around a rubble-strewn site is a ramp that used to rise from Galway St, a narrow little road flanked by the back ends of heritage buildings.

Curving abruptly into dust-filled air, the ramp is the remnant of what was the country's first municipal car park when opened with much pomp and puffery on September 11, 1958. It had spaces for 465 cars.

It is probably misplaced sentiment, but demolition of the 150m-long strip buries memories for several generations of going "to town".

Going in a car anywhere was exciting. Going in a car to the three levels and winding ramps of Britomart was awe-inspiring, and earning the right to hand over the money at the exit ticket booth made one a very smug and irritating sibling.

Maturity brought sad clarity: the Britomart bus terminal and the carpark were graffiti-strewn grotholes where the dubious lingered longer.

It was no great surprise to hear that before demolition began in late July, Ward Demolition site manager Sonny Collenette used to roam the site looking for used hypodermic syringes.

The company's operations manager, Colin Perks, says work has gone according to plan: "There have been no accidents, and we haven't found any bodies in the concrete."

Critics complain that Son of Britomart, as the new transport centre for the site has been termed, is also a road to nowhere.

Supporters say it is the start of an ambitious plan to finally help Auckland deal with its chronic traffic congestion.

But all agree that the road to this point has been very long and full of potholes. Such a centre was first proposed in August 1992.

Replacing the rubble will be an integrated $212 million rail, bus and ferry terminal that will be the catalyst and hub for a $1.2 billion new public transport system.

By Christmas, excavation work should have started on a 12m-deep hole for the underground railway station, which will be two storeys below ground.

The underground station will stretch from the back of the old Chief Post Office to Britomart Place, where it will be connected to a 506m train tunnel that has already been built.

But all you will see there now are piles of concrete and the machines which are crushing it down to pieces the size of tennis balls.

Those bits of Britomart will be reborn as roadfill all around Auckland - a fitting end for the carpark that used to sit at its centre.

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