KEY POINTS:
Apartment dwellers living near the proposed Auckland waterfront stadium site have been assured that noise will not be a major factor.
Technical papers, released by the minister in charge of the Rugby World Cup Trevor Mallard, show that once the waterfront stadium is operating, it will meet regional and city plans for noise levels, except for rock concerts.
In the case of rock concerts, noise levels imposed in the two district plans would be exceeded by nine decibels at the closest buildings, which were immediately across Quay Street, a report by Hedgley Acoustic Consultants said.
"However, the existing noise environment in this area is very high due to traffic noise," it said.
"Therefore the actual effects of any concert would be no more than minor when considering the limited number of such events that would occur in any one year."
Another report, by Traffic Design Group, said there was "ample traffic capacity" to service the waterfront stadium site.
However, it found some problems with the original design plans.
It wanted the two main ramps accessing the stadium to be widened, along with the turnstile area which it considered to be too confined.
External pavement areas at the foot of the ramps in Quay St were also too small and the service driveway needed to be widened for it to work properly.
Mr Mallard said yesterday that all the reports on the stadium issue would be made available to the public.
- NZPA
