Busway gaining serious traction

By MATHEW DEARNALEY



Auckland's northern bus routes are being overhauled to feed into a "train system on rubber wheels" from Albany to Britomart and beyond, as early as next year.

The Northern Busway project is gaining serious traction now that state funding agency Transfund has approved a $180 million construction grant, on top of $25 million already spent on design and related expenses.

This will let Transit NZ build a 7.3km dual carriageway for buses and ultimately other high-occupancy vehicles from Constellation Drive to Esmonde Rd up the eastern side of the Northern Motorway, and a 1.2km single-lane stretch to the harbour bridge.

The project's overall cost is now $279 million, including $74 million from the North Shore City Council to build five bus stations and road links with help from a $40 million grant from Infrastructure Auckland.

The Environment Court has recognised the project as an integral part of Auckland's growth strategy, needed to complement the rail network in the battle against traffic congestion, and therefore of national as well as local importance.

Although the busway and its associated tunnels and bridges will take until 2008 to complete, the North Shore council has already begun building bus stations at Albany and Constellation Drive for use from the middle of next year.

These will include park-and-ride areas, for up to 1200 vehicles at Albany and 400 at Constellation Drive.

Buses will be able to join the motorway via these stations before the busway is built, and the Auckland Regional Council is reviewing routes throughout the North Shore and on the Hibiscus Coast to increase service frequency.

Buses will run every 15 minutes along the motorway from Albany to central Auckland, increasing to at least every five minutes once the busway opens, and the council is seeking public comment on a maze of planned new feeder routes and other suburban bus runs.

On the southern side of the harbour bridge, Infrastructure Auckland has also just granted $3.6 million to the Auckland City Council for a $14.9 million project to widen Fanshawe St for two-way, 24-hour bus lanes to and from the motorway.

Three other bus stations will be built by 2008 at Akoranga, Westlake and Sunnynook, but without park-and-ride areas, as planners believe these would discourage patronage on feeder buses.

The overall project cost does not count $38 million that Transfund has given Transit to upgrade the Esmonde Rd interchange with the Northern Motorway.

Buses heading from Auckland along the motorway will cross the interchange to loop into the busway at Akoranga, and those travelling south along a dedicated buslane will drive through a tunnel under a widened Esmonde Rd.

Transit is not costing this as part of the project, saying it is justified as a standalone improvement to traffic flow, allowing vehicles from Takapuna to drive west for the first time to Northcote or north along the motorway.

But busway project director Clive Fuhr says the $180 million grant that Transfund approved last week will cover construction of a second interchange with the busway, to be built from Onewa Rd in 2008 as the last stage of the overall project.

The money will also pay for ramps between the motorway and the Albany station, although buses will have to vie with general traffic between there and Constellation Drive until extensions to either end of the busway become feasible.

Mr Fuhr said the busway was crucial to the development of North Shore and Rodney District as there were no plans to widen the Northern Motorway.