Auckland transport projects
The PM has announced three major long-term transport projects for Auckland, at a cost of around $10 billion. They are:
- The City rail link, with construction to start in 2020, or earlier if central city employment grows by 25% or in the year rail patronage is forecast to hit 20 million trips (if before 2020)
- A second harbour crossing, with a tunnel planned for around 2025, with route protection to start this year
- Speeding up the combined Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative (AMETI) and East-West Link project
They are also looking to bring forward three smaller projects – to complete a motorway-to-motorway link between the Upper Harbour Highway and the Northern Motorway at Constellation Drive, widen the Southern Motorway between Manukau and Papakura, and upgrade State Highway 20A link to the airport to motorway standard.
It’s good to have certainty over the harbour crossing. These things need huge lead times, and you don’t want to be debating whether to have one, where it will be, and is it a bridge or tunnel just a few years before you badly need it.
It will be interesting to see the funding details over time. Will they all be funded from the National Land Transport Fund or will taxpayers make a contributions (NLTF is funded by petrol tax and road charges – not general taxation) or will PPPs play a role?