Traffic chaos on the Northern Motorway by St. Mary's Bay causes traffic on the harbour bridge to back up city bound. Photo / Natalie Slade
Traffic chaos on the Northern Motorway by St. Mary's Bay causes traffic on the harbour bridge to back up city bound. Photo / Natalie Slade
Concept plans for $450 million of improvements to Auckland's Northern Motorway are also making allowances for a potential busway extension costing about $250 million.
A Government knockback in May's Budget of an extension of the Northern Busway from Constellation Drive to Albany caused dismay among Auckland Council members such asformer North Shore mayor George Wood.
But the Transport Agency yesterday disclosed it was looking at fitting a busway extension in with major motorway construction works along the route, for completion in 2019-20.
The agency is putting out for public consultation four concept options for creating seamless links between State Highway 18 - the Upper Harbour Highway - and State Highway 1.
All of the options would divert traffic away from congested Constellation Drive and two of them would also include direct links between State Highway 17 - the Albany Expressway - and the Northern Motorway near Greville Rd.
In addition, two busway options have been added to the consultation exercise. An information session was held last night and two more will take place today at the Constellation bus station.
The Transport Agency hopes to seek resource consents for a busway extension next year, at the same time as securing preferred routes for the motorway upgrades.
