CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

CHALLENGES The Auckland Region is located on an isthmus, a narrow strip of land between two harbours - with currently one main motorway bridge providing access across the Waitemata Harbour between North Shore and Auckland City. There is only one bridged crossing of the Manukau Harbour, also a motorway. Adding to the roading challenges are 36 volcanoes, numerous estuaries, bays and inlets, and many cultural and historical sites. Except for the western strip of the Waitakere Ranges, the Auckland metropolitan area extends across the whole width of the isthmus, creating challenges for transport links. The greater Auckland Region comprises four separate but interdependent cities - Auckland City, North Shore City, Waitakere City and Manukau City, as well as Rodney and Franklin districts, each of which is currently almost totally reliant on road transportation to conduct its economic and social activities.

Congestion Boosted by economic growth, tourism and immigration, Auckland is growing by a city the size of Dunedin every four to five years. According to a recent report by Ernst and Young, the congestion on Auckland's motorways and state highways is costing the region of the order of $1 billion a year: about $3 million a day. Commuters' needs, at this stage of the region's expansion, are only partially accommodated by passenger transport services, while commercial and industrial traffic is almost wholly dependent on the region's existing road system. As a consequence, Auckland's car ownership levels have soared to 1.6 motor vehicles per household, putting it on par with Southern California, currently the world leader in private car ownership. The region as a whole is very vulnerable to queues and delays, and a single incident on any of the motorways can bring the traffic almost to a standstill, blocking the movement of goods and people to their various destination, including the Ports of Auckland and the Auckland International Airport. Since the 1920's, the central business district (CBD) has lacked a downtown commuter rail station and bus station. Dedicated bus lanes have been introduced in some areas, and a major benefit is expected when the North Shore Busway - a dedicated busway traversing the North Shore alongside State Highway 1 and crossing the Auckland Harbour Bridge and feeding into the Britomart transport centre is commissioned in 2006.

Traffic Management
The current Auckland network primarily comprises three motorways - Northern, Northwestern and Southern - interconnected through the Central Motorway Junction.

Transit New Zealand has developed a sophisticated traffic management system to cope with any eventuality on the motorway system. These systems fully recognise that each of these motorways is heavily congested in peak periods and experiences significant traffic volumes at these times.

They also acknowledge that traffic volumes during interpeak periods and even over weekends - especially when major sporting and cultural events take place - are also increasing, extending the periods of congestion on the motorway network.

A sophisticated traffic incident monitoring and management control centre, known as the Advanced Traffic Management System, which has the potential to significantly reduce congestion, was introduced in Auckland during 1999. The system operates on sections of the motorway network and provides enhanced safety and traffic information to the travelling public and enables rapid co-ordination with emergency services to achieve faster clearance of accident sites and other incidents.

The 24 hour/seven days a week system uses the latest technology including

• 7 Variable Message Signs to inform motorists of road conditions, breakdowns, traffic incidents or bad surfaces
• 35 pan/tilt/zoom cameras monitoring some 32 km of motorway
• 84 lane control signals on 20 gantries to guide traffic flow across the Harbour Bridge
• A moveable lane barrier -- the first of its kind in the world - was introduced on the Harbour Bridge in 1990 to eliminate head-on crashes. It allows for lane configurations to be changed to cater for peak periods. A complete barrier change takes less than an hour to complete.

All aspects of the Advanced Traffic Management Systems are co-ordinated from the ATTOMS Centre located just north of the Auckland Harbour Bridge in the old Harbour Bridge Authority building.

The regional integration of traffic management has been enhanced through the linking of Auckland City's SCATS system, which co-ordinate traffic signals on local arterial roads, in July 2003. The linkage of the four SCATS systems to the ATTOMS centre provides access to 61 CCTV cameras. This integration of the two systems now provides a more co-ordinate approach to the management of traffic over a wide area of Auckland.

Nevertheless there is recognition that on occasion a planned 10-minute journey can take more than an hour, resulting in increased motoring costs, elevated levels of pollution, and the resultant loss of productive time. While the rising levels of anger and frustration are more difficult to measure, they have become more apparent recently.

Nowhere is this potential for problems more evident than within the Central Motorway (Spaghetti) Junction (CMJ), where the three motorways converge. This section is the busiest in New Zealand, with more than 200 000 cars passing through it each day. The CMJ will shortly be greatly expanded to increase its throughput. The construction period is placing additional constraints on the motorway system in the short-term.

SOLUTIONS

There is now a broad consensus at a national and local government level that without road improvements and the provision of alternate transport options, road congestion will simply continue to worsen, with even more serious consequences to the economic well being of Auckland and even New Zealand itself.

Transit New Zealand, in its Auckland State Highway Strategy released in 2000, identified a number of key priorities to address the current congestion and alleviate future expansion challenges.

The three projects given the highest rating to improve traffic flows south of the Harbour Bridge and through the central motorway network were:

• Central Motorway Junction
• Harbour Bridge to City
• Grafton Gully

Funding
Funding to enhance the existing motorway network has been committed while alternate sources are being considered to fund the additional planned motorways that will have a major positive impact on improving the current situation.

The Grafton Gully project, providing an essential link to the Auckland Port, is already bringing relief to the motorway system. It is now complete and demonstrates the benefits of money well spent.

Innovation
Additional lanes, widening the Newmarket Viaduct, new motorway to motorway links, new on/off ramps, road widening and increased throughput capacity for the Central Motorway Junction are all scheduled for completion within the next few years.

Unfortunately, Aucklanders will, in the interim period, be faced with road works - and even those undertaken out of peak periods and in the middle of the night - will put additional pressure on the region's roads before their benefits become more apparent.

It is hoped that the opening of the downtown Britomart Station in Auckland's CBD will provide attractive commuter options to Aucklanders too.

Is your trip necessary?
Over the next short while motorists entering and leaving the city will be challenged to find alternate routes, use different means of transport, use technology and/or delay their trips as the huge effort to overcome Auckland's roading backlog moves into top gear.