Draft plan for Ngauranga to Airport corridor

High quality, high frequency public transport in Wellington city, new and improved walking and cycle routes, dedicated bus lanes on Hutt Road between Ngauranga Gorge and Thorndon Quay, additional lanes between Ngauranga Gorge and Aotea Quay during peak times, graded traffic separations at Basin Reserve, roundabouts on Cobham Drive, and detailed feasibility studies for duplication of the Mt Victoria and Terrace tunnels are part of the draft plan (PDF, 716KB) for the Ngauranga to Airport corridor.

The draft plan, prepared by Greater Wellington Regional Council, Wellington City Council and Transit New Zealand, will be considered by committees of these three organisations next week. The committees are being asked to recommend it to the Regional Land Transport Committee, followed by public consultation.

The draft plan has been deliberately developed for adaptation as the environment changes. For example, if oil price increases or carbon charges substantially reduce the demand for private transport, those projects required for private vehicle demand could be delayed. Conversely, if affordable alternatives for powering cars become more widely available, the roading projects would be expected to proceed as planned.

Research for the plan involved studying successful cities around the world, including Copenhagen (Denmark), Curitiba (Brazil), Freiburg (Germany) and Portland (USA). Consistent findings were that, in order to provide for expected growth and to facilitate urban vitality, a balanced transport plan was necessary.

Such a plan needs to include: travel demand management measures to reduce the number of car trips (particularly sole occupant) and encourage alternatives such as public transport, walking and cycling; a high quality, high frequency public transport system, and a high quality vehicle ‘ring route’ for inter-regional accessibility.

A key initiative of the draft plan is to develop a public transport network to support the ‘residential growth spine’, from Johnsonville to Kilbirnie, that has been identified and is being planned for by Wellington City Council. In the next few years the Johnsonville railway line will be upgraded and bus priority measures will be provided through the central city where the greatest benefits can be gained for the biggest number of users. Bus priority measures will also be put in place on arterial routes and key suburban centres. In later years, the dedicated road space that has been allocated for passenger transport use may be upgraded further for a high quality busway or light rail service.

Planned changes, to be implemented within the next 10 years, include:
- More bus lanes, signal pre-emption and real time information along the Golden Mile (from Lambton Quay to Courtenay Place) to improve journey times and reliability;
- Bus priority measures on all arterial routes, including Mulgrave, Murphy and Molesworth Streets, Adelaide Road, Thorndon Quay, The Terrace and Glenmore Street, and all key suburban centres, including Newtown, Hataitai, Kilbirnie, Brooklyn, Karori and Island Bay;
- New and substantially improved walking and cycling routes throughout the area; and
- Adding two more lanes, at peak times, to the motorway between Ngauranga Gorge and Aotea Quay
- Reallocating existing lanes on the Hutt Road for bus lanes and possibly high occupancy vehicles
- A graded traffic separation of north-south and east-west traffic flows at the Cambridge Terrace end of Basin Reserve
- Detailed feasibility studies to look more closely at duplicating Mt Victoria and The Terrace tunnels