Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Waterview: The giant up the road

Sacha

Sat, 01 Oct 2016 16:08:05 +1300

Not in the know about timing etc, but I recall when the Pohutukawa trees were under threat reading that the whole rationale for this 6-lane bridge is to get more westbound traffic from Great Nth Rd onto the NW motorway and thence the Waterview tunnels. Is not intended to funnel…

Jason Kemp

Sat, 01 Oct 2016 13:58:05 +1300

And there’s going to be a lot of pressure on the St Luke’s Road interchange by Western Springs.

Which they’ve managed to bollox up when it comes to the St Luke’s Road offramp

I'm bemused by the flow-on effects at that St Lukes interchange. For some reason the old small…

Russell Brown

Mon, 26 Sept 2016 11:07:50 +1300

New official time-lapse video of the Alford Street bridge construction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC-dkJFqG_U

Max Robitzsch

Thu, 22 Sept 2016 18:19:15 +1200

And yes, pretty much the entirety of the path is "up high" with no dipping down to the creek. Partly for cycle comfort, partly for safety reasons (safer at night). That's also why bridges need to span so long.

Max Robitzsch

Thu, 22 Sept 2016 18:15:20 +1200

The whole path – including the bridges – was ordered by the approval authority as community mitigation, not transport mitigation (as NZTA’S lawyers argued that there was no legal case for a motorway being required to provide a cycleway along a tunnel route).

So the function of the bridge at…

Brent Jackson

Thu, 15 Sept 2016 12:00:29 +1200

I assume the bridge is to give access westward along the NW cycle-way, not eastward into town.

FletcherB

Wed, 14 Sept 2016 22:05:24 +1200

It does not look like it’s the trail beside the creek, but further up the ridgeline along the back of the Unitec campus.
Which begs the question... If you're on it, having come up the (not yet existing but come 2017) rail-side path from New Lynn and Avondale... And assuming…

BenWilson

Mon, 12 Sept 2016 11:30:32 +1200

I think the proposed path leading to the bridge is a different one, and could be useful where the other is almost entirely scenic. It does not look like it's the trail beside the creek, but further up the ridgeline along the back of the Unitec campus.

M Thomas

Sun, 11 Sept 2016 22:19:44 +1200

The Oakley bike path is not much use for cyclists coming from New Lynn though. A little open bike path actually on Gt Nth Rd would make a big difference. Better still, reduce the whole thing to one lane each way with a permanent bus/bike lane against each footpath each…

BenWilson

Fri, 09 Sept 2016 17:18:40 +1200

It is ugly. But I've got so used to ugly around Auckland it hardly seems exceptional :-).

Russell Brown

Fri, 09 Sept 2016 15:44:44 +1200

In your case it might make sense just to stay on Gt North Rd all the way to Pt Chev.

Heh. I'm fucked if I'm doing that with the current state of the road past the Connection works. Shit is ugly around there.

Russell Brown

Fri, 09 Sept 2016 15:40:30 +1200

Nice shot!

Carol Green

Fri, 09 Sept 2016 10:04:24 +1200

Lovely clear day to get a photo of the monster this morning. That wind though! I was passed by a jogger going up Carrington Rd.

BenWilson

Thu, 08 Sept 2016 13:52:04 +1200

In your case it might make sense just to stay on Gt North Rd all the way to Pt Chev. I do that when I’m going to the beach. Yes, you do have to have the courage of your convictions to take a lane (the middle one) from the lights…

Russell Brown

Thu, 08 Sept 2016 10:15:04 +1200

The moment I realized that they had done that, I took to entering the cycle path here. Which should really have been signed posted as the recommended route for cyclists.

I don't ride that way often – really only coming back from the market on Sundays – but I've never…

Angela Hart

Thu, 08 Sept 2016 09:29:17 +1200

That’s a temporary access to the construction yard only – built by the construction folks, will be going once they leave

aah, but convenient for those with the ability to use it

BenWilson

Thu, 08 Sept 2016 09:21:54 +1200

Auckland Transport or NZTA or whoever it is, is well used to subjecting cyclists to stairs.

The moment I realized that they had done that, I took to entering the cycle path here. Which should really have been signed posted as the recommended route for cyclists.

That stairway entrance is…

Angela Hart

Thu, 08 Sept 2016 09:11:44 +1200

Auckland Transport or NZTA or whoever it is, is well used to subjecting cyclists to stairs. This is the southern access to the cycle lane, about 300m from the Spaghetti Western.

with attitude like this from infrastructure providers it's no wonder there's no provision for people with mobility impairments.

Wheelchair…

Max Robitzsch

Thu, 08 Sept 2016 09:07:46 +1200

Auckland Transport or NZTA or whoever it is, is well used to subjecting cyclists to stairs. This is the southern access to the cycle lane, about 300m from the Spaghetti Western. It’s been there throughout the works.

That’s a temporary access to the construction yard only – built by the…

James Littlewood*

Thu, 08 Sept 2016 01:07:06 +1200

I’ve stealth cycled it a few times

What a good idea. I go to great lengths to figure out acceptable ways to avoid riding along GNR. And if the hideous traffic wasn't bad enough, some people are really bloody hostile!

James Littlewood*

Thu, 08 Sept 2016 00:30:56 +1200

Auckland Transport or NZTA or whoever it is, is well used to subjecting cyclists to stairs. This is the southern access to the cycle lane, about 300m from the Spaghetti Western. It's been there throughout the works.

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 22:31:36 +1200

I’ve been hoping that beside railway path was eventually going to open up – I’ve stealth cycled it a few times. Not strictly trespassing as far as I could tell, but so undeveloped that it actually felt like it.

I did that once, en route to the New Lynn skate…

BenWilson

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 21:54:01 +1200

We tried. We really did.

I believe you. I really do. It's such a huge project that I was never more than a little hopeful that the prioritization of the mighty auto would take pole position. The fact that it would help hundreds of cyclists every day would probably not…

BenWilson

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 21:50:35 +1200

It’s going to be quite a nice bridge, by the look of the artist’s impression.

I hope it is. Now that I can see where it comes out I can see a point in it. It's an alternate route of similar elevation changes to get to the corner of Rosebank…

Max Robitzsch

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 21:18:54 +1200

I guess it depends on what side of that bridge you live whether it would have been a good thing :-)

Huh? Why would a nice ped / cycle bridge be a problem? We wanted it kept there for better links to Avondale, but judges felt that since it was…

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 21:00:03 +1200

Did you folks know that the bridge over Oakley Creek was originally supposed to be at Phyllis Reserve (near Blockhouse Bay Intersection)?

I guess it depends on what side of that bridge you live whether it would have been a good thing :-)

Max Robitzsch

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 20:54:49 +1200

Jumped the fence at Eric Armishaw park a couple of months ago too

Ah, so you walked the Dinosaur already?

Max Robitzsch

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 20:52:41 +1200

this is how the greenway connects to Great North Road.

Ugly… considering for a fraction of percent more on the total spend they could have put a Te Atatu style underpass in here.

That would have been so much better.

Still, I think there's to be a direct path down…

Max Robitzsch

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 20:46:24 +1200

> Same. It's impossible not to be impressed by how it's been executed.

They had a lot of money, AND an alliance model (where pain and gain of all contractors AND client is shared). Makes for efficient delivery of large projects.

Max Robitzsch

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 20:43:34 +1200

the ability to have one tiny little bit of lane dedicated to bicycles that don't want to go up to Pt Chev, cross a very busy road and then back down again through a golf course was somehow lost. They built lanes for trucks to access the works about 6…

Max Robitzsch

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 20:38:37 +1200

Did you folks know that the bridge over Oakley Creek was originally supposed to be at Phyllis Reserve (near Blockhouse Bay Intersection)? Photo back from 2010, when I was preparing the Cycle Action Auckland submission...

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 17:36:40 +1200

So they built a cycleway that follows an underground tunnel…above ground? And in doing so had to build a huge bridge across a nature reserve???

Well, yes.

It's going to be quite a nice bridge, by the look of the artist's impression. And they seem to be incurring considerable additional…

BenWilson

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 16:57:36 +1200

So they built a cycleway that follows an underground tunnel...above ground? And in doing so had to build a huge bridge across a nature reserve???

Rich of Observationz

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 15:59:09 +1200

This may be relevant (it's clickbait, but at least it's interesting):
http://gizmodo.com/6-freeway-removals-that-changed-their-cities-forever-1548314937?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=Gizmodo_facebook

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 15:34:21 +1200

Cool, so it’s really a crossing over to Unitec? I couldn’t tell from the map picture.

I wonder what the justification is – that looks like quite an expensive work.

It was ordered by the Board of inquiry. NZTA didn't want to build a cycleway along the underground part of…

Glenn Pearce

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 15:31:26 +1200

Jumped the fence at Eric Armishaw park a couple of months ago too

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 15:30:10 +1200

this is how the greenway connects to Great North Road.

Ugly… considering for a fraction of percent more on the total spend they could have put a Te Atatu style underpass in here.

That would have been so much better.

Still, I think there's to be a direct path down…

davesparks

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 15:22:30 +1200

+1 for the open day concept!!

Work to date has certainly been incremental improvements to my car commute in from the West, Waterview no longer the carpark it was for a looong time and heading home the extra lane to help merge the people heading north from St Lukes to…

BenWilson

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 14:37:42 +1200

this is how the greenway connects to Great North Road.

Presumably it's also possible to just go onto the offramp as a vehicle, stop at the lights, and then turn with the traffic? I always ride on the road at that point anyway, because the cycle path ends at the…

BenWilson

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 14:31:02 +1200

Cool, so it's really a crossing over to Unitec? I couldn't tell from the map picture.

I wonder what the justification is – that looks like quite an expensive work.

Glenn Pearce

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 14:25:19 +1200

It all looks very 1970's. My grandparents lived near the Western Springs section of the NW motorway and we used to climb the massive piles of scoria during construction. We literally got told to "go and play on the motorway"

Tim Welch

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 14:23:17 +1200

this is how the greenway connects to Great North Road.
Ugly... considering for a fraction of percent more on the total spend they could have put a Te Atatu style underpass in here.

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 14:16:39 +1200

Courtesy Max Robitzsch – this is how the greenway connects to Great North Road.

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 14:14:50 +1200

and make it unusable for wheelchair users, who clearly have no right of access. Sigh.

Apparently it wasn't just the residents. But yeah, what a bummer.

Angela Hart

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 14:10:23 +1200

A yet-to-open path under the ramps to the park in Waterview. I’m told residents insisted on steps to access the bridge in the distance, to slow cyclists down.

and make it unusable for wheelchair users, who clearly have no right of access. Sigh.

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 14:05:47 +1200

In the artists impression it looks nice and high.

Oh, that’s interesting. The pic I took above is very different-looking. Is it the platform from which to build the actual bridge, or did something change?

UPDATE: My pic is the platform the bridge will be built from – they're trying…

Mikaere Curtis

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 13:59:42 +1200

And there’s going to be a lot of pressure on the St Luke’s Road interchange by Western Springs.

Which they’ve managed to bollox up when it comes to the St Luke's Road offramp. It used to have a long queue turning right, and they fixed that by having two right…

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 13:23:31 +1200

A yet-to-open path under the ramps to the park in Waterview. I’m told residents insisted on steps to access the bridge in the distance, to slow cyclists down. Bah.

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 13:18:04 +1200

The ventilation tower just now. I’ve added this and the bridge one to the post. (Yes, it's on a lean. Deliberately.)

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 13:17:18 +1200

Interesting that there’s to be a new bridge crossing Oakley Creek. Nice for people out for a walk anyway – on a bike that’s one hell of a climb if the crossing is down near the creek. Will be very interested to see what becomes of it.

Nope – it’s…

James Butler

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 13:03:22 +1200

Is the Waterview shared path going to join up with the one through Mount Roskill (War Memorial/Walmsley/Underwood parks)? I haven't seen any mention of cycle facilities around the tunnel mouth...

BenWilson

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 12:26:28 +1200

Same. It’s impossible not to be impressed by how it’s been executed.

It's also quite something to do a drive through practically every day of this enormous and long project. My boys have seen a suburb transform into a gigantic public work. We comment daily on the latest addition. Good…

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 11:57:18 +1200

Wow. As an outlander, I had no idea of the massive scale of the works. I thought it was a tunnel with a strip of widened fast road.

It is huge.

Hebe

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 11:50:14 +1200

Wow. As an outlander, I had no idea of the massive scale of the works. I thought it was a tunnel with a strip of widened fast road.

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 11:30:27 +1200

Sadly, experience have shown that such things typically improve traffic for a brief time, then people adjust their plans accordingly (e.g. commuting by car from Otorohanga or wherever Auckland’s outer suburbs are now) and the roads fill up again.

The lack of provision for bus lanes certainly hasn't helped.

But…

Rich of Observationz

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 11:20:36 +1200

Sadly, experience have shown that such things typically improve traffic for a brief time, then people adjust their plans accordingly (e.g. commuting by car from Otorohanga or wherever Auckland's outer suburbs are now) and the roads fill up again.

Most European cities (even London) called a halt some time ago…

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 10:57:05 +1200

I’m fascinated and mortified by this huge homage to cars & petrol that I’ve watched rise from my bus seat – the planning and details that project managers have done to ensure everything has gone smoothly and to plan is most impressive and makes my head hurt

Same. It's impossible not…

bob daktari

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 10:45:07 +1200

I'm fascinated and mortified by this huge homage to cars & petrol that I've watched rise from my bus seat – the planning and details that project managers have done to ensure everything has gone smoothly and to plan is most impressive and makes my head hurt

For photos/flybys and the…

Russell Brown

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 10:43:13 +1200

The Waterview shared path route – from the Auckland Transport information page.

Public Address

Wed, 07 Sept 2016 10:43:13 +1200

Discussion from blog post.