Anzac bridge group insists rail would work on 3km span

Promoters of a 3km Anzac centenary bridge across Auckland's Waitemata Harbour are accusing the Transport Agency of misrepresenting their proposal. Photo / NZ Herald Graphic

Promoters of a 3km Anzac centenary bridge across Auckland's Waitemata Harbour are accusing the Transport Agency of misrepresenting their proposal in favour of a shorter crossing.

The agency, which denies the claim, is waiting for the Auckland Council to approve a spatial plan by Christmas before deciding whether to build a bridge for up to $3.9 billion between Northcote Point and Westhaven Marina or a pair of tunnels for more than $5 billion to supplement the existing kilometre-long bridge.

But neither of the agency's options would include a rail link, as championed by Auckland Mayor Len Brown, and a group proposing a longer bridge to commemorate the centenary in 2015 of the landing at Gallipoli by Anzac troops claims its rail-friendly scheme has been ruled out on incorrect grounds.

Group chairman Richard Simpson said a staff report to the agency's board wrongly said the Anzac bridge proposal was for a structure from Esmonde Rd in Takapuna to Wynyard Point, and would require substantial "cut and cover" work through the Tank Farm waterfront development precinct.

Board members were told that a bridge on such an alignment "would significantly impact on the planned and future development aspirations for the Wynyard Quarter".

But Mr Simpson, a former Auckland City transport committee chairman, said his group's proposal was for a bridge between the Onewa Rd motorway interchange and a point on the Auckland waterfront just west of the development precinct.

"The impact on Wynyard Pt would be positive in terms of waterfront experience as the bridge would enable greatly improved access," he said.

The agency says it relied on a graphic still posted yesterday on the Anzac group's website, depicting a route from Esmonde Rd to Wynyard Pt, in rejecting the proposal but remains willing to consider submissions from the group.

Mr Simpson said the proposal had "evolved" since the graphic was included in a report compiled in 2009 and he would have expected the agency to have kept itself up-to-date.

He said dismantling the existing 52-year-old bridge, although not essential to his scheme, would also "extend a world-class waterfront experience" beyond Wynyard Pt to Westhaven by allowing the removal of the 1.2km motorway "dogleg" now running along St Marys Bay.

Mr Simpson also queried a comment in the Transport Agency report that his group's proposal assumed rail would be carried on a new bridge when it opened, but that its gradient would be too steep for trains.

He said the bridge's 3km length would allow enough vertical clearance for ships to pass underneath without exceeding a gradient of 3.6 per cent, compared with the existing structure's 5 per cent slope, and it would therefore be well within the capabilities of light railcars.

But he said the Anzac bridge would be designed initially to support dedicated bus lanes, with provision to "evolve" to rail.

"The Anzac bridge has promoted a rail option but has never assumed rail from the outset," Mr Simpson said.