Design & Build South East 2021

Page 25

BUSWAY TO BOTANY

on hold

Over the past 12 years (at least) plans have been drawn and redrawn several times, regarding AMETI – the Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative – a busway and new roads running between Panmure and (eventually) Botany Town Centre.

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ust when residents thought it was on track, total project completion has been delayed by another two years, to 2027/2028. Over the past decade or more, houses have been bought along route to later be demolished when making way for more transport lanes including the busway. However progress has been slow though work is currently well on the way for that section which runs from Lagoon Drive, Panmure to Pakuranga Plaza. However, the projected delay time means the Eastern Busway and a planned Reeves Road Flyover are on hold for now. In June 2020, Auckland Mayor, Phil Goff said there would be no delays to the Eastern Busway project despite projected shortfalls in the Council’s budget as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Pakuranga MP, Simeon Brown and Botany MP, Christopher Luxon said in a joint statement that the Mayor had spoken of the Council’s commitment to the project given how critical it was to solving congestion issues in the wider transport network and because it would provide more reliability and choice in our public transport options. They concurred that Pakuranga Road remained one of the busiest non-State Highways in the country and despite local expectation that the Regional Fuel Tax would

be used on important projects such as the Eastern Busway, this did not appear to be the case. Mr Brown and Mr Luxon agreed that the Government and Auckland Council needed to urgently work together to find the money and reverse this funding cut to ensure the Eastern Busway was delivered to the promised timeframe. At that same time, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said he was worried but held out little hope the matter of funding could change, while, Auckland Councillor (Howick Ward), Paul Young, said it was a huge blow to east and south Aucklanders who had been waiting a decade for the busway. “Both south and east Auckland have suffered historic under-investment in transport from both central and local government. The Eastern Busway is the first opportunity for us to change that story,” Mr Young said. “Once completed it will provide a convenient and reliable connection from the east to the rest of the region. If we want to earn the confidence of Aucklanders, and if we are serious about meeting our emissions reductions goals, we should be speeding the busway up not slowing it down. I am committed to finding a way to bring the funding the Eastern Busway back to the earlier years as was originally consulted on by AT”. Howick Youth Council co-chair Danica

Loulié-Wijtenburg added that further delays were inexplicable to most young people. “The Eastern Busway is essential to improving public transport for our community. When built, it will open opportunities across Auckland for public transport users, alongside people using bicycles,” she said on hearing of the delay. “Youth often choose to use public transport to get around their neighbourhoods and their city. They’ve told us they want public transport to get better now – not later. “A student’s trip from Botany to uni [university] in morning rush hour would normally take more than an hour, depending on traffic congestion. Once the busway is complete, alongside the City Rail Link, trips would reliably take about 40 minutes in rush hour. That’s simply transformative.” Although funding for delivery of the programme has been spread out by a further two years (to 2027/28), authorities have said this does not mean a reduced commitment to the programme. Overall, there is a proposed increase in funding for the busway of $199 million (from $912 million to $1.11 billion) between the 2018 RLTP and the 2021 draft RLTP. Stage 1 of the busway, allowing for road widening and dedicated bus lanes between Panmure and Pakuranga is not impacted and was still due for completion late 2021. Design and Build South East — 2021-2022 — 25

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