Auckland transport

Cheers for the pics, although I hear that Auckland's traffic is absolutely shocking.

Also: Eastern Freeway, dead in the water?

^^
The Eastern Expressway as proposed a few years back id dead in the water.
However the corridor will most likely be looked at again in the future.

Here's some traffic volumes for the North Shore (from North to South)





As you can see the motorway just north of the Harbour Bridge handles aprox 166500 vpd on average. It's the second busiest section of motorway in the urban area.

CMJ Project (Complete)

2003



2007

Proposal for new Auckland Harbour Bridge



A team of architects and engineers have designed an elegant arching structure to replace the troubled Auckland Harbour Bridge.

As Transit NZ pushes on with a study into a tunnel under the harbour for up to $3 billion, leading architectural firm Jasmax has produced a radical concept design spanning Waitemata Harbour between Wynyard Pt near the Tank Farm on the waterfront and Onewa Rd in Northcote.

It features a giant angled pylon supporting a splay of cables in the shape of a sail, reflecting what its designers say is Auckland's nautical history.

The concept, made available to the Herald yesterday in the wake of Transit's decision to ban trucks from the outside clip-on lanes of the existing harbour link to ease fatigue pressure, is based on structures in Spain and Mexico by the architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava.

It would carry cars, buses, bicycles, pedestrians and possibly even light rail carriages.

Although emphasising that the concept was "a toe in the water", Jasmax director Hamish Boyd said the Holmes Consulting Group of engineers had studied it and confirmed such a bridge could be built.

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His firm had decided to develop a visual concept after being approached by Auckland City Council's transport committee chairman, Richard Simpson, who is pushing for the existing bridge to be demolished to free up prime coastal land in favour of a lower-gradient structure capable of carrying light-rail if needed.

Mr Simpson said an elegant new bridge, funded largely through land sales around St Marys Bay and Northcote, would be about one and a half times longer than the existing link but could attain the same height on a lower and more visually appealing gradient.

Although it could present challenges to redevelopment plans for the Western Reclamation, it would free up at least four times as much land and allow Westhaven to be restored as a popular beach.

Demolishing the existing bridge would be strongly resisted by Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard, who wants a tunnel as an additional link to end the region's dependence on "a single ribbon of steel".

But Mr Boyd derided the existing structure as a "bit of a bailey bridge" which he said had no place on the Waitemata and required motorists to take an otherwise unnecessary dog-leg around St Marys Bay to reach it.

Mr Simpson said the replacement would enhance rather than detract from the Waitemata's splendour and put Auckland on the world map.

"Let's have a piece of world-class architecture."

Auckland City transport committee member Richard Northey backed the design.

"I understand a tunnel that length would have operating costs of about eight times that of a bridge and there would be a real problem with gradient if used by trucks coming up from the harbour to the motorway," he said.

But Deputy Mayor Bruce Hucker favoured a tunnel provided it could be linked with the Wynyard Pt development due to unfold over the next 20 years.

Transit says it is not far away from seeking land designations for a possible tunnel, on an understanding it has been the strong preference of local councils.

Transport planning chief Wayne McDonald said the study should be complete within months, if not weeks, and would include a firmer cost estimate.

He emphasised the aim was to prepare for designations for the protection of land in the midst of redevelopment plans for the Western Reclamation, which remain under sensitive negotiations between the city council and Auckland Regional Holdings, owner of the port company.

Nice bridge. A lot better than the current one.

Nice thread. Anything on rail and bus infrastructure? How about ferries?

^^ From what I know, Auckland doesn't have much in the way of rail infrastructure. It's in the planning stages though.

I hear Wellington has a pretty top notch rail system though.

The planned bridge looks a lot like one I saw in Seville.

I'd like to see some Auckland train snaps, why does it have a lesser train system than the smaller Wellington? Are trains used a lot in NZ, the country size would seem to suit fast city link trains.

I don't think trains are that popular in NZ. I remember my ex (who's a kiwi) saying something about it. I was drunk though, so I can't remember.

From what I hear about Auckland's congestion, a rail system would be a great way of getting cars off the roads. Though it would probably take a while to get people from out behind the driver's seat and onto the train. There needs to be a culture shift.

I know that the train system in Auckland isn't very extensive and is disel. I've seen pics of the new underground station which looks pretty cool. I'd like to know more though....

Auckland's Britomart Terminal



Proposed underground line under the CBD creating a City Loop.

By the time they build this link I will be an old man :lol:

Hope they build it one day, Auckland with then enter Melb and Syd club :cheers:

city_thing said:

I don't think trains are that popular in NZ. I remember my ex (who's a kiwi) saying something about it. I was drunk though, so I can't remember.

From what I hear about Auckland's congestion, a rail system would be a great way of getting cars off the roads. Though it would probably take a while to get people from out behind the driver's seat and onto the train. There needs to be a culture shift.

Click to expand...

Auckland's city form would IMHO tend to suit rail, what with the bottlenecks caused by the harbours. I can easily imagine a rail line going across Waitemata Harbour taking a decent amount of people off the roads if it was planned well.

It'd be nice to see a new bridge though. The one shown would instantly become a landmark. It'd obviously not beat Sydney's Harbour Bridge, but it would certainly give it a run for its money (an interesting point is that the two bridges carry about the same amount of traffic).

How many cars per day use the bridge?

I can understand that they would have a similar number of cars crossing the bridge as the Auckland Harbour Bridge is right in the geographic middle of Auckland, with the majority of the city on the north or south. In Sydney, however, most people live in the western suburbs meaning they wouldn't need to use the SHB, it's really just there as a connection to the north shore.

Aucklands current rail system.


Post 2020 proposal.


Busway (BRT) - Bus Rapid Transit. On the North Shore.



Post 2020 with busway.


Cycle lanes.



Ferries.

So from the map there's one service hourly on each line, none on Sundays or evenings?

city_thing said:

How many cars per day use the bridge?

I can understand that they would have a similar number of cars crossing the bridge as the Auckland Harbour Bridge is right in the geographic middle of Auckland, with the majority of the city on the north or south. In Sydney, however, most people live in the western suburbs meaning they wouldn't need to use the SHB, it's really just there as a connection to the north shore.

Click to expand...

Well, for starters, a LOT of commuters come down from the Central Coast - so that's a good 30,000 commuters per day.

Now, the M2 feeds into the Lane Cove Tunnel, which feeds into the Gore Hill Freeway, which leads into the Warringah Freeway, which leads into the Bridge.

The M2 comes from the Hills District, in the North-West of Sydney, which is the most car-dependant district in the metropolitan area.

On the Auckland rail system - no wonder it doesn't get used much. One service an hour is quite frankly hopeless. I think even Adelaide (which is the laughingstock of Australian transport) has a half-hour frequency.

It needs to be half-hour at least off-peak, 15 minutes peak. I'm assuming the small size of Britomart is a constraint on capacity, though.

The proposals however look quite good. Why a busway for the North Shore though, and not a rail line? Surely there'd be enough demand for rail?

Wow. That's pretty small.

Their freeway systems seems pretty awesome and all the infrastructure seems pretty modern. I think the biggest problem is the frequency. As said before hourly frequency is hopeless for anything other then long distance