Editorial: Super City or supercilious - where's our new harbour crossing?

Billions of dollars have been invested on motorways north and south of the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Photo / Michael Craig

EDITORIAL:

Bernard Orsman's excellent series on Auckland motorway upgrades this week highlights a blindingly obvious issue for this so-called Super City.

Just where is our new harbour crossing? The "Coat Hanger" continues to provide the sole access between our largest quarters - the former North Shore City and Auckland City. Yes, there's an Upper Harbour Bridge but it's hardly viable for the vast bulk of commuters and transporters.

Putting coloured lights on the old grey span (although, nice one Vector) has done little to bring the bridge into anything resembling modern infrastructure. Meanwhile, billions have been spent on motorways north and south of this creaking old structure.

Never mind the condition of the bridge, just look at the lights. Photo / Supplied

The latest update on the Auckland Transport website appears to be a 2008 study, recommending cross-harbour tunnels just south of the Onewa Rd interchange emerge just beyond Westhaven Marina.

In 2009, the state of the bridge was deemed so bad trucks might be banned from the clip-ons. Even after a $45 million upgrade, an official report noted a risk of "catastrophic failure" of the clip-ons due to the weight of heavy vehicles.

At that time, it was thought the lanes might only last 10 more years. The NZ Transport Agency now says any construction won't start until the late 2030s.

When Rodney Hide slapped the old territorial authorities together in 2010, there appeared to be at least hope that core works needed for a world-class metropolis could be shunted through, bypassing feuding local bodies such as North Shore City and Auckland City councils. Perhaps we can now see that wasn't the problem?