Auckland Chamber of Commerce head Michael Barnett says a fast fix of Auckland Airport’s traffic nightmare needs to be a project of national significance focused on the entire transport network.
Barnett welcomes the news of a task force including NZTA, Auckland Transport, and the airport operator to address the traffic issues but he says the warning signs have been apparent for years with the cause being the airport’s fruitful and rapid growth.
“The twin drivers of the airport’s growth success – increased passenger and thriving businesses – have become a classic example of the inability of planning authorities to respond with the infrastructure needed to support the business-led growth,” says Barnett.
He says setting up a task force needs to accompany a determination to dramatically lift the pace at which the proposed improvements to the transport network become action on the ground.
“We need to see the bulldozers working,” he says.
The cause of recent airport gridlock traces back to the long-term failure of authorities to address the lack of capacity of the Puhinui Rd access from the west (SH20B).
“Puhinui gridlocks most working days, and the congestion is now spreading back into the airport, affecting the whole of the airport’s roading network,” says Barnett.
“A clear project needing a fast uptake is to join the southern and western access routes (SH20A and SH20B) to create an airport by-pass to serve business and residential areas adjacent to the airport,” he says.
Barnett says Auckland Airport is on notice to experience worse congestion in the next few years, given passenger throughput is projected to increase from its current 17 million passengers a year to 45 million by 2040.
“When the SH20 Waterview tunnels open next year, traffic volumes on the western ring route going past the airport are projected to increase by 30,000 vehicles a day,” says Barnett.
“This, surely, sends the clearest possible message to transport infrastructure decision-makers and funders on the need to dramatically lift their game, with dire consequences if they don’t,” he says.
