This is probably the only thing that has ever spewed forth from the current administration of Auckland City that I would actually agree with.

Auckland city is absolutely suffering for the state of our roading infrastructure. The short minded planning of the Spaghetti Junk-tion area has left us with severe and major traffic issues that have only now started to be alleviated as John Banks modifications finally start to come to fruition.

Hands up how many of you forgot that the motorway upgrades were thanks to John Banks? How many of you think that Britomart is John Banks baby and have forgotten Ms Fletcher? ;-)

Anyway…

The King Dick Hubbard says that he will do everything he possibly can to ensure that there is not another viaduct put over the top of Victoria park and that the motorways are extended using tunnels instead. This is a very big deal and hopefully his tunnel vision extends as far as putting in a north bound harbour crossing tunnel that also includes a rail system to link up the north shore with the rest of the city.

Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard has vowed to fight “absolutely tooth and nail” for a $320 million northbound motorway tunnel under Victoria Park, despite a claim by a ministerial advisory group that its cost is unjustified.

The four-member group, which the Government appointed a year ago in the face of ballooning road-building costs, has criticised plans by Transit NZ to use tunnels to soften the impacts of motorway projects through central Auckland and a bushclad hill between Waiwera and Orewa. But Mr Hubbard said Aucklanders would not allow the cheaper option of a second unsightly viaduct across such rare and precious green space as Victoria Park and neither would he.

Mayor to fight ‘tooth and nail’ for tunnel – NZHerald.co.nz

One thing that has always bothered me about living in New Zealand is that if you live in Auckland, the rest of the country immediately places a stigma upon you. “Oh, you’re a JAFA,” is not uncommon to be heard around the country. In fact, it seems that anyone south of the Bombay Hills will instantly ostracise you because you live in Auckland. It gets even worse if you go to the South Island and they discover you’re from Auckland.

But heres the part that bothers me about that situation so much.

For years now, Auckland has been in dire need of some serious cash input from the Government to help pay for the infrastructure that needs to be put in place for the city to function. I am not talking about Mallard’s dreams of wasting billions on a rugby tournament. I’m talking about serious roading, power and transport infrastructure that is a core function of every city.

For years Auckland been generating the large majority of business income in this country outside of agriculture and farming, yet the money the government takes from us is then distributed out to the rest of the country with only a very small percentage placed back into Auckland.

Now we hit crunch time.

Auckland is starting to swell at the seams and if something isn’t done soon, it will burst and collapse back in on itself. The upgrade of the Spaghetti Junction area was a very good start. Actually, its an amazing start that is very welcome. However, its only a beginning and it only deals with just one bottle neck. Drive a few metres up the motorway till you’re past the Nelson Street offramp and things are still as bad as they ever were. You go from 3 or 4 lanes straight back down to 2 lanes across the viaduct till you’re past the Fanshaw Street onramp.

Now, this makes things interesting because on top of all the north bound traffic, you’ve now got traffic coming off the North Western motorway and merging into that area. You’ve one of the busiest on ramps from the city itself at Wellington Street that merges into that same area. 3 different streams of north bound traffic all converging onto the same 2 land stretch of motorway as it goes across the Victoria Park viaduct.

Let me say that again. From the Nelson Street Offramp, all the way through to the Fanshaw Street Onramp is 2 lands with 2 different streams of traffic trying to squeeze their way through there.

Heres a map to show you the area I’m talking about if you are not familiar with Auckland.

Victoria Park in and of itself is a very major landmark in Auckland. It is a historical site of significance, and also one of the very few areas in the central city where people are actually able to play sporting events. The cricket wickets there are legendary in their own right. They may not be home to international sporting fixtures as Eden Park is, or Carlaw Park was once, but as far as local sporting clubs go, they are a major deal. Its also a very nice place to just go and spend time on your lunch break if you’re working in the city.

The idea of digging it up and putting another viaduct across the top of it just totally astounds me. That people can be so completely pigheaded is just bizarre. Would you dig up the Quays around the Wellington waterfront to add more lands to the roads around there? I mean, Telecom has a building on Jervois Quay, they might appreciate if we turned Frank Kitts Park into a parking lot for staff to park their cars in.

“Thats not the same thing!”
Isn’t it? Why not. This ministerial advisory group wants us to give up a huge chunk of one of the few remaining green areas in the Auckland CBD to make way for more roading. Why shouldn’t Wellingtonians give up a park as well?

Auckland needs that bottle neck removed, but putting in more lanes on the viaduct is not the answer. I would fight beside King Dick if it came down to it. This is probably the only issue I actually agree with him on.

I’m still going to vote against him and his court jester Hucker at the next election though :-P