KEY POINTS:
Cyclists and walkers are being kept on tenterhooks over their bid for access to Auckland Harbour Bridge, after the Government's Transport Agency decided yesterday it needed more information.
But the agency's board resolved at its monthly meeting in Wellington to press ahead with preparations for new motorway and
rail tunnel crossings of the Waitemata Harbour by authorising its staff to prepare route designations over both land and sea.
It also decided to open discussions with various organisations over a proposal to move SH20 westward along the Onehunga foreshore as part of its $230 million Manukau Harbour motorway crossing duplication project, which it is hastening to complete for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Transport Agency chief executive Geoff Dangerfield said his board decided after "frank and considered discussion" to seek more information on whether it should carry forward a proposal to add enclosed cycling and walking paths to the main harbour bridge for $23.8 million to $42.8 million.
"You can expect to hear more from the board next week," he said last night.
Mr Dangerfield said the board had given the green light to staff to start work on protecting the proposed route between the Northern Motorway and Spaghetti Junction via Wynyard Pt for a set of harbour tunnels likely to cost about $4 billion.
The board's holding action over granting cyclists and walkers access to the harbour bridge will keep them in suspense as they gather under Auckland City end of the bridge for a rally tomorrow afternoon.
But they will be relieved the agency's board did not reject the proposal yesterday, given that its officers were understood to be tending against it on cost grounds.
Auckland Regional Council transport chairwoman Christine Rose, whose organisation has resolved to support the proposal in principle for consideration against other walking and cycling projects, said she understood the agency board was "polarised".
She welcomed its call for more time, as it needed to ensure the accuracy of costs and specifications provided by consultants, but said it was important for the agency to follow a process prescribed in new legislation by at least lodging the proposal with the Auckland Regional Transport Authority.
Onehunga Enhancement Society chairman Jim Jackson welcomes the agency's decision to hold discussions with his group as well as local and regional leaders over its proposal to move SH20 west to provide a corridor for a future railway link to Avondale and underground transmission lines.
The group has won support from Auckland City for that plan and an associated 11ha reclamation of Manukau Harbour, subject to a three-way funding split of a cost of up to $30 million between the city, the regional council and the Transport Agency.
Ms Rose said her council still wanted the agency to consider lowering the motorway into a covered trench as a prerequisite for restoring Onehunga's waterfront.
