$6.4 billion transport plan for Wellington

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TinyTim

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#2239796 17-May-2019 10:33

No plans, just a shopping list of ideas.

And nothing being done on the Terrace Tunnel, which is backed up to Bolton St or even Hawkstone St for 10 hours solid each Saturday and Sunday. This isn't going to be solved by commuter public transport or airport light rail, not while so many people are heading to ASB Sports Centre or Scorching Bay or Rongotai shopping centre or Shelley Bay or Lyall Bay or wherever else most people go to in the weekends. (Well ok light rail would help those going to ASB.)

sbiddle

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#2239803 17-May-2019 11:11

TinyTim:

No plans, just a shopping list of ideas.

And nothing being done on the Terrace Tunnel, which is backed up to Bolton St or even Hawkstone St for 10 hours solid each Saturday and Sunday. This isn't going to be solved by commuter public transport or airport light rail, not while so many people are heading to ASB Sports Centre or Scorching Bay or Rongotai shopping centre or Shelley Bay or Lyall Bay or wherever else most people go to in the weekends. (Well ok light rail would help those going to ASB.)

The Terrace tunnel itself isn't the massive bottleneck many people think it is. The single 3 lane tunnel was built with a plan to build a duplicate next to it in the future, and at the time the plan was to switch lanes for the peak flows like they used to do on old Hutt Rd.

The problem is so many people want to get across town and the only ways to do that are two surface roads (inner city bypass and Vivian St) that have multiple intersecting roads and lights. Had the inner city bypass been built as a proper underground cut and cover road from the Terrace Tunnel to the Basin Reserve as first planned much of today's congestion wouldn't exist.

TinyTim

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#2239824 17-May-2019 11:29

sbiddle:

TinyTim:

No plans, just a shopping list of ideas.

And nothing being done on the Terrace Tunnel, which is backed up to Bolton St or even Hawkstone St for 10 hours solid each Saturday and Sunday. This isn't going to be solved by commuter public transport or airport light rail, not while so many people are heading to ASB Sports Centre or Scorching Bay or Rongotai shopping centre or Shelley Bay or Lyall Bay or wherever else most people go to in the weekends. (Well ok light rail would help those going to ASB.)

The Terrace tunnel itself isn't the massive bottleneck many people think it is. The single 3 lane tunnel was built with a plan to build a duplicate next to it in the future, and at the time the plan was to switch lanes for the peak flows like they used to do on old Hutt Rd.

The problem is so many people want to get across town and the only ways to do that are two surface roads (inner city bypass and Vivian St) that have multiple intersecting roads and lights. Had the inner city bypass been built as a proper underground cut and cover road from the Terrace Tunnel to the Basin Reserve as first planned much of today's congestion wouldn't exist.

So maybe in 30 years when they sort out the east-west vs north-south problem at the Basin Reserve, the Terrace Tunnel problem won't be as bad as it is now (assuming there is no further growth!)

But what I'd like to see is reducing the quays from 6 lanes to 4 (or 2+transit) and so have a better connection for pedestrians between Lambton Quay and the waterfront - and to do that you got to get that traffic out of the city centre and onto SH1 - the motorway and what is currently the 'bypass' (but which is actually the opposite), so SH1 would need to be able to handle that extra traffic.

I'm concerned Mayor Lester is going to get his way and shut down Lambton Quay to vehicles without providing somewhere else for them to go.

Dingbatt

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#2239875 17-May-2019 12:03

Despite saying there would be no extension of regional fuel taxes outside Auckland, I predict they will sell this current upgrade to Wellingtonians as essential and then decide they can't afford it. The next step is to slap on a Wellington Regional Fuel Levy.

Once again government is using yesterday's technology to solve today's problem, tomorrow. Light rail on fixed tracks will be made obsolete by emerging disruptive technologies long before the project is completed.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

DarthKermit

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#2239995 17-May-2019 16:20

What would you suggest, @Dingbatt?

wellygary

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#2240006 17-May-2019 16:52

Dingbatt:
Once again government is using yesterday's technology to solve today's problem, tomorrow. Light rail on fixed tracks will be made obsolete by emerging disruptive technologies long before the project is completed.

So what should we do until this disruptive technology arrives? .... ( at an acceptable price point) , twiddle our thumbs?

amiga500

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#2240091 17-May-2019 17:47

Dingbatt: Despite saying there would be no extension of regional fuel taxes outside Auckland, I predict they will sell this current upgrade to Wellingtonians as essential and then decide they can't afford it. The next step is to slap on a Wellington Regional Fuel Levy.

Once again government is using yesterday's technology to solve today's problem, tomorrow. Light rail on fixed tracks will be made obsolete by emerging disruptive technologies long before the project is completed.

Having experienced a return trip on the Gold Coast light rail from Broadbeach South to Helensvale & back to Surfers, I do see the attraction of light rail. It is fast efficient and carries a lot of people on each unit. It's also really nice to ride.

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DarthKermit

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#2240092 17-May-2019 17:56

sbiddle:

Heavy rail to the airport simply isn't possible... Well it is - but it would need to be 100% underground from the railway station, and the cost of that would be many times the total cost of this project and have very limited options for stations along the way. Light rail is planned to be a high capacity bus replacement.

That would effectively be a subway. I doubt Welly will ever have the population density of a New York or a London to justify any kind of subway, even with ignoring the geological problems of such a thing. Look at all the money they're burning through in Auckland for underground trains!

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