Hundreds of people packed into a local church to hear from Auckland Transport (AT) chief executive Shane Ellison about the future of the long-awaited Eastern Busway public transport project.
The public meeting at St Columba Church on July 20 was hosted by Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown and Botany MP Christopher Luxon (see page 8).
AT publicly announced on June 26 that the project would be delayed by two years and put the reason down to funding constraints.
Luxon opened the meeting by saying east Auckland’s population of about 130,000 people is as big as Dunedin or Tauranga.
“We are an area experiencing tremendous amounts of growth and how we fundamentally feel is we are chronically under-served with public services out here, particularly around transport.
“We feel we are doing it particularly tough. We’ve been waiting over a decade for a simple 7.6km busway.
“Getting that vital link up and running from Botany through to Panmure and the city is very critical.”
Ellison spoke to a number of slides detailing progress on the busway project.
He said stage one should be completed in October this year. Road works to move the water main to the new bridge was to be finished by July 23.
Upcoming road works to raise the sewer main and complete road links to the new bridge is being carried out from August 16 to September 29.
Traffic heading toward Pakuranga will use the new bridge while city-bound traffic will use the existing bridge.
Ellison said design and planning of stage two-four of the busway has been awarded to a consortium.
A decision on the final scope, cost and timing will be made by AT’s board early next year.
He said the Eastern Busway Alliance’s work programme is continuing “at pace” and remains “fully committed” to delivery.
It’s looking to consult with the local community before the end of this year. Ellison then detailed the project’s funding.
He said the 2021 regional land transport plan (RLTP) identifies funding and timing of projects for the next decade.
It includes an additional $199 million for the busway.
Funding for the project has been nominally spread over a further two years to 2027/2028 to account for funding availability and the large number of major council projects planned for 2024-2026.
The RLTP will be reviewed again within three years and if there’s more funding available in the next three to five years, that may allow AT to bring the busway project back to an earlier completion date, Ellison said.
“We’re not slowing down. We’re doing everything we can to get this project done as quickly as possible.”
He said the project’s next steps include site investigation work in Pakuranga and Botany between July-December this year.
Property owner and community consultation for stages two-four will happen in late 2021.
Consenting for those stages is planned for early next year and construction is due to start in late 2022.
Ellison and other AT officials answered a range of questions from Luxon and Brown and members of the audience.
Brown asked if AT is still committed to the Reeves Road flyover project being progressed as part of the busway work, and when it would be built.
“The vast majority of people in east Auckland use their cars,” Brown said.
“We’re hoping this project will make a change, but we’ll still be relying on our cars to get around the city.
“The Reeves Road flyover is critical to unlocking that congestion, so when is it going to be in the time schedule and is it able to be prioritised?”
AT official Duncan Humphrey responded, saying the flyover and the busway are “categorically joined at the hip, so we can’t build the busway without the flyover”.
“The flyover is the most complex part of the programme, mostly because it is right through the middle of the town centre [Pakuranga Plaza], and we have to create a bypass before we can build the flyover.
“It needs to start first and it will finish last because it is the most complex part.”
Humphrey said the flyover is a priority and AT is looking to start work on it earlier than planned.
“That’s involving detailed design work and construction as well.
“It doesn’t mean it will finish quicker than the rest of the programme, it’s still a very long process to build that flyover.
“I can definitely say in all the options we’re looking at, it’s the one component that is there for every option, so it is on the table and it’s going to happen.
“It’s just because it such a difficult piece to build we have to start it really early and it takes a long time.”
An AT document published online in July 2013 states construction of the flyover is “due to begin in 2015/2016 subject to funding and constraints”.
“The flyover will take approximately 18-24 months to complete,” it says.
