The council is accepting feedback on these changes until Sunday 29th August (this coming Sunday). Making sure your voice is heard is easy – just take a few minutes to fill in the online feedback form here.

We suggest you mention the following matters:

Turning Dominion Road’s bus lanes into T2 lanes is a poor idea because:

• Allowing cars into the bus lanes is likely to considerably slow down the trip for bus users.
• Experience from the switch from bus lanes to T2 lanes on Tamaki Drive suggested that vehicles in the general traffic lane were slowed down considerably.
• Dominion Road is one of Auckland’s best and most popular bus routes. ARTA have recently looked to market the service as a “b-line” route. Bus priority along the road should be improved, not reduced.
• Slower buses will make it more difficult to retain the current high frequencies along the route.

Overall, the proposed change is worse for everyone. Worse for bus users, worse for car drivers, worse for public transport in general and worse for bus operators.

The Campaign for Better Transport supports the extension of the hours of operation for the bus lanes on Dominion Road, to provide faster trips for bus users outside the 7-9am and 4-6pm times the current bus lanes operate.

T2 lanes have been considered for Onewa Road on the North Shore, and also the bus lanes on Tamaki Drive have been changed to T2 lanes. In the case of Onewa Road the council has not made the change, in the case of Tamaki Drive, the change has slowed down traffic for everyone.

Further information/analysis of the proposed Onewa Road changes, and why council officers have recommended against such a change: http://transportblog.co.nz/2010/07/09/why-t2-lanes-can-be-stupid/

Further information on the Tamaki Drive change from bus lanes to T2 lanes:
http://transportblog.co.nz/2010/06/14/analysing-the-dominion-road-bus-t2-lane-issue/

My personal submission (if you’re short of ideas): http://transportblog.co.nz/2010/07/16/dominion-rd-t2-give-your-feedback/

Auckland City’s transport committee has infuriated communities in the path of the Waterview motorway by supporting the Government’s preference for a revised “surface-tunnel” option.

“I’m absolutely gutted by the response from our council – I think they have been irresponsible,” Margi Watson, Waterview-based spokesman of the Tunnel or Nothing protest group, said yesterday.

“The council was elected to represent the interests of communities, not the Government.”

Members of the ruling Citizens and Ratepayers bloc, led by Deputy Mayor David Hay, outvoted minority City Vision and independent councillors in backing the revised scheme, which the Transport Agency estimates will cost $1.4 billion.

That differs from the council’s previous support for a pair of deep tunnels to carry traffic along most of a 4.5km link between the Southwestern and Northwestern Motorways, and will provide extra comfort to the agency’s board when it meets in Auckland late this month to approve the new plan.

City Vision councillor Cathy Casey said the council had “let down the people of Waterview and is no more than a puppet of the National Government” and teammate Graeme Easte warned of high mitigation costs from a project he claimed would undermine a key council policy of building stronger communities.

Leaders of the Eden-Albert and Western Bays community boards have also lashed out at the decision.

But transport committee chairman Ken Baguley said the previous Labour-led Government provided no funds for the costlier twin tunnels, which were not without their environmental challenges, including vehicle emissions.

He said the motorway link was needed to deliver $800 million of annual economic benefits from completing the ring route.

Given that there was no chance of persuading the Government to resurrect the twin tunnels, the council needed to concentrate on ensuring communities affected by the new scheme received fair compensation and mitigation.

The new scheme compares with a Treasury estimate of $2.77 billion for the twin tunnels, although that included $554 million in financing charges absent from the revised version.

It will include a 1.15km bored tunnel between Owairaka and Avondale Heights and a 700m covered trench beneath Great North Rd, with a strong likelihood the two structures will be joined to keep traffic underground for more than 2km. It will also keep the traffic further from the bush-clad lower reaches of Oakley Creek than other cheaper options, one of which would have entailed a 520m viaduct.

But it will involve demolishing up to 365 homes, as well as slicing through more than 1km of upstream green space in Owairaka.

The city council’s urban design review team is not satisfied the lower creek will survive unscathed, saying in a report that it was concerned to learn concrete “boxes” for the motorway trench under the Great North Rd ridge-line might be wider than first thought.

“We consider this could have a severe adverse impact on the corridor, with serious consequences for Oakley Creek, and is likely to mean an over-scale road on top of the motorway boxes that cannot deliver a best-practice liveable arterial.”

The Central Connector forms a crucial part of Auckland’s expanding transport network, linking into the Northern Busway at Britomart and connecting future bus improvement projects on Great South, Manukau and Remuera roads. It will also complement the rail network by providing a travel option to Britomart and Newmarket stations.Work to strengthen and future-proof Grafton Bridge is also nearing completion. The bridge will be able to accommodate heavier low-emission buses and other forms of passenger transport such as light rail in the future.

One crucial aspect of the project has been the strengthening of Grafton Bridge, with the plan to eventually make the bridge bus only from 7am to 7pm on weekdays. The bridge is only two lanes wide, and can only ever be two lanes wide. Therefore, before it was closed for maintenance last year it got very congested at peak hour. Redirecting a lot of buses over Grafton Bridge – as proposed by the Central Connector – would only add to this congestion if other vehicles continued to be allowed to cross the bridge, and undo many of the benefits that the rest of the Central Connector. So, to ensure that the money spent on the Central Connector actually achieves its stated purpose. Council spell this out quite clearly:

Upon completion, the bridge will be able to withstand a one in one-thousand year earthquake and accommodate up to 1200 buses every weekday. Accommodating more buses on the bridge is integral to maximising the benefits of the Central Connector busway and making inner city bus travel faster and more reliable. The bridge will be able to act as an important transport link between Grafton and the CBD, while retaining its heritage glory.

So far, so good. However, it seems as though the road loving politicians that actually make up the Auckland City Council don’t like the idea of not being able to drive across Grafton Bridge whenever they please, and have decided to waste ratepayers’ money and put the whole purpose of the Central Connector at risk, by undertaking further stakeholder and community consultation into whether cars should be banned from the bridge during these hours or not.

My feedback: don’t be idiots. Obviously the bridge has to be buses only from 7am-7pm. Use Wellesley Street bridge like you’ve been doing for the past few months and let’s get on with it. Somewhat fortunately, ARTA’s funding contribution to the project is based on the original proposal – so I hope their feedback goes something along the lines of “it’s buses only from 7am-7pm or you can find somewhere else to get the $14 million we’re contributing!”