Focus: Truck crash, fire on Auckland Harbour Bridge. Video / NZ Herald
The fiery crash on the Auckland Harbour Bridge that caused motorway chaos today has drawn different responses from the main mayoral contenders Phil Goff and John Tamihere.
Goff said there is no case for bringing forward a new harbour crossing after 2030, while Tamihere repeated his call for a newcrossing by 2025.
The political views come as the Automobile Association warns today's crash highlighted the pressure the bridge is under and the lack of a back-up when something goes wrong.
The latest proposal for a new harbour crossing favours a tunnel for light rail plus road crossing, but not before the mid 2030s.
Auckland Harbour Bridge will remain the only main crossing for at least the next 15 years. Photo / Herald
This followed a report from the NZ Transport Agency in May which found the harbour bridge will be at full capacity for all transport modes by 2030, the same year the Northern Busway will hit capacity.
Goff said the best advice from the NZ Transport Agency and Auckland Transport is that a new crossing will be needed after 2030, which has been brought forward a decade in the latest transport programme agreed between the Government and Auckland Council.
He does not believe there is a case for bringing a new crossing forward from that date, saying there are more pressing infrastructure projects for Auckland.
"The accident today involving an overturned truck that was on fire was dramatic but not typical.
"The congestion areas are normally not on the bridge itself, but north of the bridge and where the bridge traffic disgorges into the city," said Goff, who is seeking a second term as mayor.
Auckland Mayoral candidate John Tamihere wants to bring forward work on a new harbour crossing. Photo / Herald
Tamihere, whose proposal to turn the harbour bridge into a double-decker super structure with provision for vehicles, rail, cycles and pedestrians has been panned as impractical and costing $10 billion, said he was not a "religious zealot" about the solution.
But he stuck to a six-year timetable, saying a solution has to be found in three years followed by a three-year build.
"We have got to bring a solution forward. We cannot march to the NZTA drum," he said.
Barney Irvine, the AA's principal infrastructure adviser, said there had been steady increase in bridge traffic over the last decade that will not let up with future growth in Silverdale, Millwater, Warkworth and Dairy Flat.
"Travel times from Albany to the city in the morning peak have increased by about 5 minutes in the past two years," he said.
Irvine said the Government said a new crossing was not needed until the late 2030s, "but that feels too far off to us".
The solution should focus on the outcomes, such as decongestion, better access to employment and study, resilience and the environment.
"That said, we think the eventual approach will have to cater to all transport modes, just road or public transport isn't going to work." he said.
NZTA's May report looked at three options - a tunnel for light rail, a combined road and light rail tunnel, and doing nothing.
It came down on the side of a light rail tunnel plus road pricing. The business case investigations are due to be complete by the end of this year.
It found the number of vehicles using the bridge throughout the day, around 170,000, is the same as it was in 2006. And the number of people heading into the central city in cars in the morning peak (7am-9am) has been sitting around 20,000 for 25 years.
The growth is in bus patronage. It's up 250 per cent over the last 25 years. There are now more than 1000 bus crossings a day on the bridge and, in the morning peak, 38 per cent of all people using the bridge are bus passengers.
Transport Minister Phil Twyford said at the time the planning and approvals process for that crossing will take "no less than a decade" and construction is "likely to take five to seven years".
Auckland Harbour Bridge - the planning problem
North Shore councillor and planning committee chairman Chris Darby said the Northern Busway is "going bananas" with growth of 28 per cent in the past year.
He favours a tunnel option for rapid transit, possibly light rail, saying the parties need to get cracking to set firm timeliness "which are as loose as hell at the moment".
Darby said timelines for a new crossing need to be set in the next two to three years for a crossing to be completed by the early 2030s when the busway will be at full capacity.
Ever since the Auckland Harbour Bridge opened 60 years ago, a second harbour crossing has been mooted.
There has been talk of a new bridge, tunnels under the Waitemata Harbour, a rail crossing and a radical idea of demolishing the bridge for a new arching structure.
