Council ditches plans for Dominion Rd bus loops

Shopping centres along Dominion Rd in Auckland will be spared major remodelling as part of a multimillion-dollar upgrade of the busy route.

The Auckland City Council's transport committee decided yesterday to simplify the project, which will start in 2012, by scrapping plans for bus loops through and behind shops at the Balmoral and Valley Rd centres.

"After careful consideration and review, it is felt that the impact from creating new roads through these shopping villages would be too great," said committee chairman Ken Baguley.

"These areas will be better served by enhancing service lanes, off-street parking and opportunities for integrated commercial development."

But plans to widen 4.5km of Dominion Rd between View Rd in Mt Eden and Denbigh Ave in Mt Roskill by between 1m and 2m to create separate bus and bicycle lanes will still affect about 290 properties, and the council is also extending the scheme as far as the Southwestern Motorway.

Although a project cost estimate of $53.5 million will have to be revised for such an extension, a staff report says any extra outlay will be outweighed by savings from not building the bus loops.