Highway Project Review: Auckland Transport - Case Study Example

Highway Project Review Highway Project Review Auckland, a highly populated in New Zealand experiences traffic problems frequently. This problems needs to be resolved through development of a road system that would tackle challenges imposed by the population. Auckland Transport manages road projects in the city. One of the projects in Auckland city that is underway by Auckland Transport (AT) is the upgrade of Dominion Road project. AT inherited this project from the Auckland city council, which had earlier undertaken public consultation for a proposed upgrade to Dominion Road. Key concerns from the earlier consultation undertaken by the Auckland City Council included loss of on-street parking, and concerns that use of bus lanes by other vehicles would create four-lane highway. AT in its design includes the concerns raised and has engaged both the public, including the potentially affected residents, and other key stakeholders from the government and the private sector. AT has opened a feedback process in which views about the improvement of Dominion road are collected to be examined and possibly to be approved and included in the final design. Upgrading the dominion road will bring significant improvements in safety of pedestrians and cyclists. In addition, about two million passengers use the public transport network in Auckland City. Therefore, the upgrade will make the public transport to be reliable to residents and workers and increase the road’s capacity to deal with a sixty-seven percent growth in bus travelers by 2021 (Auckland Transport, 2014). Currently, bus stops are located within a 200m to 400m interval. The location of bus stops will be at 400m intervals implying that pedestrians will be within a four minutes walk off a bus stop, on this road. The design of the road also involves upgrading villages close to the road. These villages will be upgraded with trees and gardens to reduce surface flooding and remove pollutants, improved lighting, attractive artwork, seating and bicycle stands, pedestrian crossing to improve road safety, and storm water bores to reduce run off. Moreover, the project proposes bus stops to be located closer to the village centers. This will emphasize their importance as a destination. There will be a twelve-kilometer cycle route. The design of the route is to make cycling for locals to be easier, safer and attractive particularly for school pupils. Moreover, the cycle route will link schools to the area’s parks. The new cycle routes will be to the east and west of Dominion road. Parking on dominion road poses a challenge because in the evening buses leaving town with passengers are stuck in traffic. This is mainly due to parked cars on the road in village centers. Auckland Transport is working with the local boards and business associations to find ways of improving parking on dominion road and the village centers of Eden Valley, Balmoral and Mount Roskil. Currently, parking is restricted to thirty minutes or less. This time is insufficient to support retail and commercial activities in the city. Besides, parking restrictions result in excessive number of parking signs in a small area. To resolve the problem, AT proposes a sixty minute parking one (P60) throughout the main village centers. It involves changing the current parking restrictions. This will reduce the number of signs, improve the look of streetscape, reduce footpath clutter, help pedestrian flow and provide a safer walking environment (Auckland Transport, 2014). The signage that is used to describe the restrictions will also change. There will be other parking spaces along this corridor. They include existing public off-street parks and Side Street parking bays in each village. These parking bays will be improved with parking sensors. These sensors will be connected to a real time information sign on Dominion Road and it will show the number of open parking bays. The benefits that will come with the upgrade of dominion road are; Bus lanes will be continuous and along each side of Dominion road from State Highway 20 to View road. Northbound lane will operate during morning peak and the southbound lane will operate during the evening peak. Dominion road project plans to create new bus lanes south of mount Albert. This will create continuous peak hour bus lanes from Highway 20 to View road. This will help reduce traffic congestions. The bus lanes can be used for parking outside peak hours. The road will be widened. This will enable the creation of new 4.5-meter bus lanes south of mount Albert Road to state Highway 20. Existing bus lanes will be extended through each of the three village centers (mount Roskil, Balmoral, and Eden valley), and at intersections. North of mount Albert Road the bus lanes will be 3 meters wide, which means the rod will not be widened in this area (Matt, 2014). This will increase the reliability of bus services and reduce travel times for passengers. Operating hours for bus lanes will be from seven o’clock in the morning to nine o’clock in the morning in northbound and from four pm to six pm in the evening. New cycle routes through quieter roads on either side of Dominion road will be improved. This will improve safety for cyclist as the cycle routes will be on streets with less traffic. The reason for relocating cycle routes off dominion road is the extra cost that would be incurred to widen the road. The new cycle routes improvements include; new safer intersections of the cycle route at Balmoral road and mount Albert road, raised speed humps, new sections of shared paths or widening paths on busy roads, new links between streets for cyclists and pedestrians, destination signage, and new link to mount Albert Grammar School. New cycle crossings will be constructed on Balmoral Road and mount Albert Road to improve safety for cyclists. Cyclists who do not want to use Dominion Road and regularly travel to and from the city may use the routes. There will be clear markings on the routes through residential streets. In areas with high traffic volumes, or where vehicles are travelling at high speeds, there will be dedicated cycle lanes. However, in quieter routes where vehicle speeds are low, cycle paths will be parallel to the roads. The quality of footpath surfacing, the number of street crossing facilities, will be improved. Moreover, the footpath width will be maximized. Local businesses will be supported through improved pedestrian facilities that include continued provision of short-stay-on-street parking. Pedestrian facilities would be improved through signalized pedestrian crossings and raised pedestrian islands in village centers. The quality of village centers and streetscape will be improved. This will support local business. The project faces a number of challenges. Having wider bus lanes does not provide enough benefits to travel times to outweigh the extra costs. Widening the road would add an extra cost because it will require the relocation of services like power, storm water and telecommunication. Moreover, some bus stop locations may change. Widening the road through village centers would require demolition of a number of heritage buildings. In addition, there are environmental concerns raised by the project. There main issue will be the potential disruptions during construction. Other concerns are about traffic calming measures located near residential houses. The traffic calming measures that are talked about here include road narrowing, side friction, speed tables and traffic circles. The main issue about this traffic calming measures is the noisy braking. To help curb this issue, the Dominion project will introduce smooth speed humps that allow cars to park on them, as traffic calming measures (Matt, 2014). Another concern is about routes along local parks and access ways. These routes impose danger to cyclist at night. To solve this problem, the routes will be installed with LED lighting to ensure safety for cyclists at night (Auckland Transport, 2014). From ten at night the lights will be dimmed to ensure uninterrupted sleep for residents. Consultation for the project involves stakeholders (local boards, MPs, councilors, Cycle Action Auckland, business groups) and public feedback. Various open and public meetings days had been held earlier and are still being held, to collect views from people. The residents have been supplied with the design proposal through newsletters and they are required to present their views until April 30, 2014.Dominion road being the one of the longest in Auckland (spanning 4.5 km), carries more bus passengers than drivers in peak hours. The corridor carries three percent of the entire region’s public transport passengers per year. On one day, 25,000 vehicles pass the road with 1500 passengers in fifty buses in the morning. The road has fifty side roads linked to it (Matt, 2014). In conclusion, large numbers of people use Dominion road. This people use various means that include foot, bicycle, public transport and cars. To ensure smooth and safe use of the road, the project has engaged the public and other stakeholders in the design of the road. Construction commences in spring, 2014. Currently, AT is collecting feedback from the public and other stakeholders, to help it fine-tune its design before construction starts. The project is expected to be completed by 2016. References Auckland Transport (2014). Dominion Road Upgrade. Retrieved from ` http://at.govt.nz/projects-roadworks/dominion-road-upgrade/ Matt, L., (2014, Aril 10). Dominion Road Upgrade Open Days. Reteieved from ` http://transportblog.co.za/2014/04/10/dominion-rd-upgrade-open-days/#comment-` 104425 Read More