Proposed safety improvements for State Highway 16 between Brigham Creek and Waimauku got a mixed reception at a Kumeu-Huapai Ratepayers Association meeting on September 6.
And ratepayer representatives seeking a more definitive time-frame around a proposed bypass met National Party transport spokesman Simon Bridges at the Kumeu Baptist Church the next day.
Simon visited the Swanson rail station where the electrified line ends, looked over the Waitakere tunnel which is impeding progress on getting passenger rail to Kumeu, visited the Kumeu film studios in Access Rd and viewed the Special Housing Area off Station Rd.
He explained the government’s planned $26 billion in transport projects through to 2028 and said he would be asking the NZ Transport Agency about when it could do the SH16 realignment or bypass so area residents could get more certainty.
SH16 safety works are already well advanced in planning and consultation, with a start expected within a year.
Public transport is coming further west with a busway and park and ride planned at Westgate, while Simon says further investigation is needed into how extending passenger rail to Kumeu can overcome Waitakere tunnel safety issues. “The next step is to investigate to see how that stacks up,” he told about 30 people at the September 7 meeting.
He says mass rapid transport is needed, and believes that may come with driverless electric vehicles in a shuttle type system. “Most of the cars on Auckland’s motorways have one person, with the odd two.” Simon says if more people use ride sharing or shuttles it would have a radical impact on congestion.
Asked about the considerable time spent on community consultation for the SH16 corridor, Simon says that’s required under the Resource Management Act.
Residents are concerned about rapidly growing gridlock on the northwestern motorway and its approaches, especially with increasing residential development in this area.
The NZTA is already well down the track with planned safety improvements between Brigham Creek and Waimauku, starting within a year.
Sanjay Prasad from the project’s Safe Roads programme explained the stages and progress at the KHRRA’s meeting on September 6.
He says the agency has a good idea of what the community wants and a final round of consultation was in progress to “see if anything had been missed”.
The stretch between Brigham Creek and Waimauku is considered high-risk, four people having died and 30 seriously injured in about 200 crashes between 2006 and 2015.
The suggested safety treatments include median barriers and four lanes from Brigham Creek to the Taupaki Rd roundabout, a roundabout at the Coatesville-Riverhead Highway intersection, a flush median lane from Taupaki Rd to Kumeu, a flexible median barrier from Huapai to Waimauku, and turning bays at Station, Foster and Factory roads.
Two metre road shoulders to improve cyclist and pedestrian safety are also recommended.
However, residents at the meeting were aghast the four lanes from Taupaki Rd would become two lanes to Kumeu, saying it would become a choke point and cause more disruption.
Some businessmen between Huapai and Waimauku were also concerned the flexible median barrier would block access from the northern side of the highway to and from their businesses.
Reducing the 100kmh speed limit between Huapai and Waimauku is also proposed.
Residents spoke about how bad the traffic congestion is already through the area, some even suggesting there is a risk of Kumeu firefighters being unable to respond in quick time to emergencies in some situations.
Traffic already exceeds 30,000 vehicles daily from Brigham Creek to Kumeu and 15,000 daily between Huapai and Waimauku.
About half at the Brigham Creek end is through traffic, which a bypass would help remove, Sanjay says.
Residents want a start on safety improvements and more certainty around the bypass sooner rather than later.
