The development of the North Shore Priority Lane has been a change in direction for Auckland transport authorities. In order to accommodate increasing cross-harbour travel demand the deliberate decision has been taken to improve the person carrying capacity of the Northern Corridor rather than its vehicle carrying capacity. This will involve the construction of an exclusive roadway for buses and other High Occupancy Vehicles by-passing motorway congestion, rather than constructing a new road crossing (bridge or tunnel) of the Waitemata Harbour. Following these decisions in principle, considerable work has gone into developing a scheme which provides significant travel time benefits for public transport and HOV users at a realistic cost, while minimising the effects on a number of sensitive environmental areas. The Priority Lane scheme which has been developed comprises 4.9 kilometres of dual Priority Lane, 1.5 kilometres of tidal Priority Lane and 4.0 kilometres of one-way Priority Lane, with 2 Priority Lane stations and 3 additional Priority Lane access points. The scheme includes the widening or extension of 6 existing motorway structures and construction of 8 major new bridges, underpasses or earth retaining walls. The estimated cost of the scheme is $NZ35.9M. Initial staged construction is expected to begin as early as this coming (97/98) financial year. (A)
Samenvatting