A new road has opened at Auckland Airport which is aiming to improving freight flows to the terminals.
Now open to traffic, Te Ara Kōrako – a 700m stretch linking George Bolt Memorial Drive with Nixon Road – is the latest in a series of roading improvements in the precinct.
Part of a $300 million transport upgrade, the new road created an alternative route for freight and will help reduce transport volumes on core parts of the network.
Chief sustainability and master-planning officer Mary-Liz Tuck says while the airport’s roading network is relatively small (22km), it manages a high volume of time-critical traffic.
“We have around 80,000 traffic movements a day across the precinct and while many of these are travellers on arriving and departing flights, Auckland Airport is also a hub of commercial activity linked to aviation.
“Almost 90% of New Zealand’s air cargo comes in and out of this airport. What we’re talking about here is high value export products that attract premium prices in overseas market or time critical imports.
“We need to make sure those operations can run smoothly and safely as they connect air cargo on and off the airfield via the roading network,” she says.
Te Ara Kōrako is the latest in a series of roading upgrades which begun pre-pandemic to improve the resilience and safety on the airport’s road network.
A new terminal exit road takes traffic from the international terminal; George Bolt Memorial Drive, the airport’s gateway from the north, has been widened to add high-occupancy vehicle lanes; and roundabouts have been replaced by traffic lights at main intersections to better manage peak traffic flows. This was all completed in late 2021 to maximise the opportunity provided by lighter traffic volumes during the COVID border closures.
As well as the completion of Te Ara Kōrako, work has almost finished on adding high occupancy vehicle lanes along the first stage of Laurence Stevens Dr, an access point for traffic heading to the domestic terminal from the south.
Roading improvements will continue into the new year, with the upgrade of two intersections and a short section of the southern end of Tom Pearce Dr.
This is adding extra lanes and traffic lights aimed at keeping traffic moving from the south, the source of just under 40% of the vehicle movements to and from the airport. It is set for completion towards the end of 2024.
Along Puhinui Rd, Park & Ride South is also taking shape.
The 3000-plus parking facility, with EV charging, a dedicated bus connection to and from both terminals, as well as a ‘kiss and go’ pick-up/drop-off area will open in the first half of 2024. Parking for workers heading to the airport’s construction projects is already open, with busing and vans used for the final few kilometres to ease traffic around the terminals.
