Government goes for balanced Auckland transport plan

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The Government is putting the finishing touches on a transport package for Auckland that it believes will appeal to road and public transport lobbies alike.

But it is unlikely to get wholehearted support from National and the Greens, who want to take the city down different roads.

National leader Bill English promised on Wednesday to fix Auckland's traffic jams by short-circuiting resource consent procedures and building new motorways, while the Greens favour spending on rail, buses, cycleways and walkways.

Transport Minister Mark Gosche yesterday said the Government would shortly promote a balanced plan through Parliament to allow private companies to build toll roads, speed up resource consents through the Environment Court and provide more money to solve Auckland's transport woes.

Motorists are also likely to be hit with a 4c a litre petrol tax under a national transport strategy estimated to cost $740 million over three years.

The Auckland Mayoral Forum is pushing for an election-year package, including law changes to set up toll roads, faster resource consents procedures and a specialist judge in the Environment Court to deal with major transport projects.

Mr English has praised Auckland mayors for a plan to complete the motorway network, but criticised the Government for a lack of action.

He said public transport was only a small part of the answer, which required a number of very expensive projects that would make a marginal difference to congestion.

But the Greens spokesman on Auckland transport issues, Keith Locke, said Mr English had shown himself to be a captive of Auckland Mayor John Banks and the roading lobby by pouring scorn on public transport.

The Greens welcome a rise in vehicle taxes, but are unlikely to support toll roads or short-circuiting the Resource Management Act.

They want the millions earmarked for Auckland motorways to be spent developing the rail corridors, which the Government bought for $81 million from Tranz Rail.

"We are not saying there should be nothing spent on roads but we are certainly not about to vote for a huge burst of motorway funding unless there is a balancing," said Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons.

"We think a panic reaction by politicians because it is election year to build more motorways in Auckland without analysing the consequences would be a disaster."

Mr Gosche said despite claims of inaction, starts had been made on the Grafton Gully connection to the port, the North Shore busway and on freeing up a major bottleneck to the airport on State Highway 20 at Puhinui.

Transit plans to this year start improvements to Spaghetti Junction - the central motorway junction - and extending State Highway 20 from Hillsborough Rd to Sandringham Rd with a four-lane motorway with provision to widen it to six lanes in the future.

Consultation will also start on widening the 1.3km stretch from the Victoria Park flyover to the harbour bridge and options for extending State Highway 20 through Avondale to the Northwestern Motorway.

Feature: Getting Auckland moving

Live traffic reports

Rideline Auckland public transport information