National Road Carriers says the Redoubt Road – Mill Road project in South Auckland is a priority project badly in need of funding urgency.
While NRC welcomes the planning decision to allow the project to proceed subject to conditions, it remains concerned that the project remains unfunded, and construction is still years away.
NRC chief executive David Aitken says there is a disconnect between intention and action, and Auckland desperately needs an alternate connection from State Highway One to the south.
Aitken says that while Auckland Council has agreed on the Mill Road corridor upgrade is a priority in its 10-year long-term plan, congestion is getting worse, and there are significant crash hot spots at junctions and curves along this route.
He notes an estimated 10,000 new houses are tagged for construction in special housing areas, and in the medium term around 160,000 additional people, equivalent to the size of Hamilton, are projected for this area of Auckland.
“Yet, on the other hand, Auckland Council has still not funded the corridor project. Consequently, construction is not expected to start until 2020 on the Redoubt Road, Mill Road section, and not start on the southern part until 2025,” says Aitken.
“NRC strongly encourages the Auckland Aligned Transport Project (ATAP) currently developing a new 30-year transport strategy for Auckland and its partners to provide funding certainty to ensure the full Mill Road corridor is ‘ready to go’ well ahead of when housing and business growth occurs,” says Aitken.
“Auckland has a tradition of finding its infrastructure delivery falls well behind urban growth, ” says Aitken.
“In our view, it should lead growth development, and we expect ATAP to replace this short term approach to providing Auckland’s critical infrastructure with a more strategic and sure ‘whole of route’ planning, funding, and delivery of the road within ten years,” he says.
“We suggest that the freight benefits alone of an early delivery will be a significant and justification for an accelerated programme,” says Aitken.
