Dialogue: Transport plan vital part of the pursuit of excellence

Progress on the eastern corridor shows how work on Auckland's transport problems is in the fast lane, writes JOHN BANKS.

Aucklanders have said clearly that their No 1 concern is traffic congestion. Addressing this is my top priority as the Mayor of Auckland City.

I campaigned long and hard, openly and honestly, for more focus and faster action on completing the Auckland motorway network as soon as possible, especially the State Highway 20 western bypass and the eastern corridor, which have sat as plans since the 1960s.

That is why this week's joint announcement with Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis and Transit New Zealand chairman Alan Bickers agreeing to investigate a tripartite alliance to complete the eastern corridor is a major milestone for the region.

The eastern corridor has been on transport plans for 35 years as a vital link in the region's state-highway network, as well as for improving passenger transport services. It is going ahead and will be a bigger development than the harbour bridge was 30 years ago.

This is not about my leadership, or that of Sir Barry Curtis and other champions of progress in the region, of whom there are many. We all want the best for greater Auckland.

Our challenge is how we organise ourselves to work together to address the opportunities facing the region, in this case completing the region's long-planned corridor network by 2007.

It can be done, and everywhere I go around Auckland there is both good advice and huge goodwill towards making it happen.

We are making progress. In my report card of the milestones achieved in the six months since October's local government elections, we have taken some major steps forward.

First, the metropolitan mayors last December signed off on a priority project action plan for uptake by October 2004. Priorities include:

* Faster progress on the SH18 upper harbour corridor, upgrading Spaghetti Junction and Grafton Gully, as well as the western and eastern corridors.

* Upgrading suburban heavy rail, including extending the rail line into Britomart, the centre of Manukau City and double-tracking the line to Henderson and Swanson.

* Improving the capacity of the corridors for rapid bus transit, especially the busway from North Shore to the centre city.

* Ensuring that when we open the scaled-back Britomart, we have a train service to use the station.

We also called for innovative funding methods to allow the private sector to contribute substantially to the $1.2 billion needed over the next five years.

A more efficient consent process is another key hurdle we need to jump - not to abandon the process but to make it work better for Auckland's progress while ensuring we maintain our pre-eminent environment.

Aucklanders will know we are ahead of the game when they see action under way on all fronts at the same time.

We have moved off the rank. Since December, the bulldozers have been operating in Grafton Gully, and Transit NZ advises other central corridor upgrades are under way for a 2005 completion.

Work is well advanced to provide a rail station at the foot of Queen St, and to ensure that we get a modern train service in place by the opening day in July next year.

My vision for Auckland transport is not just about roads. It is about understanding that to be a truly competitive city, we need to look out 25 years, to a time when the region will have up to two million people. We need a fully integrated transport network with multiple options.

I make no apology for giving priority to doing the obvious. The first part of the challenge is to complete the motorway network and make a start on affordable upgrade of the existing heavy rail, bus and ferry improvements.

This brings me to the second major step we have taken to move Auckland forward - getting assurances on being able to attract adequate, secure sources of funding.

With the option of private sector funding, a project to complete the motorway network by 2007, integrated with upgraded passenger services, becomes subject to the demands and competitive tensions of the market, to be done to a timetable and a budget. Otherwise, the investor or taxpayers (depending on the contractual arrangements) loses heavily.

For private enterprise, the incentive to get on with construction is knowing that every day the motorway is incomplete, revenue is being lost.

In the past, Auckland has taken decisions to build motorways and improve public transport that have never got off the plans. The people who voted for me do not want me to shy away from these hard decisions and I will not.

There will be disruption, and it will not be an easy or popular ride for some. But as Auckland's cheerleader on completing the motorway network, I see my role as making the breakthrough after 25 years of inaction to provide the City of Sails with the modern infrastructure that will make us a magnet in this part of the world for investment, growth, jobs and social prosperity.

Everything we do for Auckland must involve the pursuit of excellence, which means putting success on a pedestal.

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