Real time operations team leader Mark Hackett and traffic engineer Jwee Goy give a behind-the-scenes look at the Auckland Transport Operation Centre (ATOC) tasked with keeping our roads moving. Video / NZ Herald
Auckland motorists are being warned the Harbour Bridge may have to close today, with strong winds forecast for the city. This article was first published on May 25.
Who decides when to close Auckland’s Harbour Bridge? Cheree Kinnear gets an exclusive behind-the-scenes interview with the people making thecall.
One of the people controlling Auckland’s traffic has delivered a blunt response to those frustrated by recent Harbour Bridge closures.
“It’s a safety-focused decision,” Mark Hackett told the Herald.
“I want to make sure that nobody doesn’t get home that night.”
Hackett is the real-time operations manager for the Auckland Transport Operations Centre (ATOC) - the organisation that monitors 3500 cameras across the city’s roading network.
During an exclusive interview and look behind the scenes at the main control room, Hackett explained if the newly-refreshed wind threshold for the bridge wasn’t followed, we could see a repeat of the 2020 double truck crash and commuters would be left yet again taking a detour on the Northwestern Motorway, for days or even weeks.
Hackett explained how the freak accident exposed fresh vulnerabilities of the Bridge and forced a reassessment.
“We reevaluated our matrix to make sure that we’re pretty much using international best practice,” Hackett said.
The “best practice,” as expected, does focus heavily on wind speed and direction.
The current threshold for closure of the bridge is a recorded wind gust of 90km/h or over for perpendicular winds, or 105km/h for oblique winds.
But the structural design of the bridge itself and the effects of climate change could be playing a role too.
“There’s a range of factors we need to consider,” Hackett said, while acknowledging the Bridge’s “vulnerable” structure with “very narrow lanes for the vehicles that are crossing it”.
“It’s something we really focus on being aware of.”
On Saturday, peak perpendicular wind gusts of 103km/h forced the Bridge to close on five occasions.
The Auckland Transport Operation Centre (ATOC). Photo / Jed Bradley
Hackett said it’s never a decision that’s made lightly.
“There’s a lot of planning involved approaching our red area of warnings,” he said.
“We deal a lot with the MetService in their briefings and we also bring in our partners, duty engineers and when that decision is made, it’s a collaborative approach between a group of people.
“We don’t want to disturb Aucklanders’ travel. We want to make them move better.
“We love our bridge, it’s a key piece of infrastructure to us and we know when it’s impacted, it affects everybody, ourselves included.
“So we want to actually make sure that we’re protecting the bridge and our road use.”
Waka Kotahi maintenance and operations regional manager Jacqui Hori-Hoult said the recent severe weather events were “impacting the condition of the whole roading network”.
“While the overall annual rainfall total has not increased by much, the intensity has, resulting in much higher numbers of short, sharp intense rainfall and high wind gusts affecting the Auckland Harbour Bridge,” she said in a statement.
Keeping things moving on the bridge and elsewhere across the city is a complex job, but one that’s described as highly rewarding.
ATOC real-time operations team leader Mark Hackett and traffic engineer Jwee Goy. Photo / Jed Bradley.
“It’s quite satisfying when you’re kind of making those small moves and counter moves and then actually seeing it,” said ATOC traffic engineer Jwee Goy.
“I get great satisfaction out of being able to do something for the community.”
Goy leads what he describes as the “delivery team” at ATOC.
They optimise the network of over 1000 traffic light intersections, review the designs of new intersections and overlook the traffic management plan.
“I feel like I’m coming to work to play chess every day,” he said.
“You don’t see the impact [straight away] but you’ve got to strategise, you’ve got to think ahead and then you see the result a few steps down the road.”
With teams working around the clock to monitor what’s going on in virtually every corner of Auckland, there’s never a dull moment at ATOC.
But some days do stand out against others.
“A memorable day for me was definitely that weather event on January 27th,” Hackett said.
“I was on a day off actually but the phone went and it was like ‘we all need to be on station and ready to go,’ and sure enough, dealing with that as well as trying to inform the public and an ever-changing environment was pretty difficult.
“It was both challenging but really invigorating at the same time.”
With a number of factors constantly affecting the roading network, things are always evolving for decision-makers like Hackett.
A decision on which of the five options the Government will commit to is due next month.
Construction is set to begin in 2029.
Cheree Kinnear is the lead of video brand ‘Focus’ for the New Zealand Herald. She pulls together compelling visual stories across news, sport and entertainment.
