20 September, 2024

Lake Rd action finally coming, Watts pledges

Poisoned chalice?… Simon Watts commits to progress on Lake Rd

Improvements for congested Lake Rd are on the government’s transport agenda for the first time.
Lake Rd work has this month been included in the National Land Transport Plan (NLTP) under new policy directions set for Waka Kotahi / New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) by the Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown.
“That’s never happened before,” North Shore MP Simon Watts told the Flagstaff.
Watts said he understood the scepticism many Devonport Peninsula residents felt about ever seeing Lake Rd sorted.
“The key challenge with Lake Rd has been getting commitment between local government and NZTA to prioritise and fund it,” said Watts.
Now a project – “to investigate improvements on Lake Rd to improve capacity on the local road network” – is scheduled for 2024-27, with NZTA officials under instruction to work with Auckland Transport (AT) to make it happen and report back to the minister.
Watts expects progress and announcements much sooner rather than later in the three-year cycle.
“I can’t commit to it being completed, but there would be an expectation it would start.”
Government funding priorities were about getting people from A to B efficiently. The high volume of traffic on Lake Rd justified work being done on it, he said.
This might include technological solutions rather than large-scale construction to the corridor.
When the Flagstaff pointed out that AT staff had previously said Lake Rd was not suitable for the likes of the dynamic lanes used on Whangaparāoa Rd, Watts said AT chief executive Dean Kimpton had told him at a recent meeting that there were a number of technological solutions being looked at to minimise congestion.
Tech fixes might be the “low-hanging fruit” that could be phased in within a broader timeline, said Watts. “As the local MP, I’ve been advocating that Lake Rd is a critical road within North Shore and Auckland.”
AT has not previously been able to lock in NZTA co-funding for its proposed work, including cycle lanes. NZTA had not accepted its business case, meaning the project is languishing well down AT’s own Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP).
“AT are now operating under the new government priorities and they have to look at Lake Rd as a congestion-busting project,” said Watts. Asked where this left community aspirations for improved cycling options, Watts said tackling the congestion challenge for the peninsula meant looking at a broader system that might put bikes on routes off Lake Rd. Being able to walk and cycle safely was a positive, but funding it was not a central government priority. It rested with AT.
Watts said he supported the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board’s aspirations for a Francis St-Esmonde Rd pedestrian and cycle link.
On public transport, he said electric ferries were on the way next year. A second harbour crossing would also improve links to the city. Watts said government announcements on this would come later this year or early next year, but he did not indicate a preferred crossing choice.
Board chair Toni van Tonder said she was grateful for Watts’ advocacy. But there was still a way to go to get everyone on the same page – given any funding was only in the outer years of the RLTP.
She and deputy board chair Terence Harpur had been invited to the MP’s meeting with Kimpton and put local points of view. A board workshop with AT would follow.
They had reiterated that non-disruptive improvements could be made to intersections, by removing some peak-hour parking and possibly by dynamic laning to aid traffic flow.
“This is going to be the fastest and least disruptive way to gain improvement on the corridor. We’ll also take this opportunity to discuss the Belmont Centre Plan and Bayswater connections too,” said van Tonder.
Cycling was a matter on which there were differing views, including among board members, but one she would continue to promote, including making Lake Rd safe for commuters and schoolchildren. “There are about 4000 children who travel to schools either on or near Lake Road every morning and home in the afternoon. A child who cycles from Hauraki Corner to TGS will naturally cycle on Lake Road; it’s the most direct and flat route.”
Van Tonder said she was pleased Watts wanted AT to look at peninsula-wide solutions, rather than focusing on one road corridor at a time.