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Roads and Streets Framework Roads and Streets Framework

The Roads and Streets Framework is a strategic planning tool used to guide the future planning and development of Auckland’s roads, streets and places.

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An interactive mapping system to view the movement and place value of Auckland street network.

Background

Auckland is a vibrant, world class city where people want to live, work and play.

More than 1.6 million people live in Auckland, and over the next 30 years this is expected to increase significantly. The combination of this growth and the development of new residential and commercial areas is placing increasing pressure on the transport network.

To manage this growth Auckland Transport, along with Auckland Council, has been looking at ways to plan and manage Auckland's roads and streets to do more than provide for traffic movement, but better reflect the full range of transport modes and activities that occur on them.

The Roads and Streets Framework provides the first step in prioritising the many competing demands within Auckland's streets.

About the Road and Streets Framework

The Roads and Streets Framework (RASF) is a guiding document which provides a systematic and consistent methodology for identifying the different functions of roads and streets in Auckland.

This approach reflects the needs and catchment of the adjoining land use as well as the movement of people, goods and services.

To ensure a consistent approach that is well aligned to Auckland Transport's and Auckland Council's policy and strategic direction, the Roads and Streets Framework assessments are led by a team made up of members of both organisations.

The RASF assessment is used to inform any development design of the road/street.

Download the Roads and Streets Framework document (PDF 3.81MB, 17 pages).

Primary functions of roads and streets

Roads and streets have two primary functions - place and movement.

The Roads and Streets Framework provides an approach for thinking about these functions and identifies their level of significance in the context of the whole Auckland region.

It is not intended to provide solutions and does not provide definitive design guidance. Instead it is the first step in a process to identify the issues that must be addressed by a project.

Place function

Place function represents the catchment of a road or street and its adjacent land use as a destination in its own right. A simple way to picture this is to consider how far, and how many people are prepared to travel to go there.

Place values

  • P1 - Predominantly local function with a small catchment of users.
  • P2 - Attracts activity from across a subregion or neighbouring local board area.
  • P3 - Attracts activity from across the region and even from across New Zealand and internationally.

Movement function

The Movement function of a road or street is its level of strategic importance within the transport network, for a single mode, or multiple modes. The level of importance is measured in terms of moving people, goods and services safely and efficiently between locations and accessing key destinations.

Movement values

  • M1 - Low strategic network significance. Provides predominantly local access for people, goods and services.
  • M2 - Medium strategic network significance with increasing volume of users.
  • M3 - High strategic significance with higher volume of users.

Typology matrix

We assign a place value and movement value to each road and street in Auckland, with each having one of three levels.

The result is a typology matrix of nine groups of roads and streets in Auckland.


*View a text version of the typology matrix

This information, together with the modal priority assessment, then guides design through the Transport Design Manual.

Roads and Streets Framework process

Step 1 - Information gathering

Step 1 requires collecting information to understand how a road or street operates currently and what has been planned for the future.

By gathering information on the place and movement characteristics of the street, we can begin to understand how it functions in the context of Auckland as a whole.

This is important in ensuring that the roads and streets meet the needs of people who use them.

Step 2 - Typology assessment

The information gathered through step 1 is used to assess the significance of the place and movement functions of the road or street.

The significance of place and movement is assessed in the context of Auckland as a whole and rated as either a 1, 2 or a 3.

The movement and place significance values are combined to assign one of nine typologies to the street. The typologies are a fundamental planning tool within the Roads and Streets Framework, they give context to each street, in comparison to other roads and streets in the region.

A street might have multiple different typologies along its length, depending on how the significance of place and movement changes.

Step 3 - Modal priority assessment

Once the relevant typology for each road or street section has been identified, the next step is to assess the importance of different transport modes and activities within the street.

For the purposes of the Roads and Streets Framework, seven transport modes are assessed:

  • walking
  • cycling
  • public transport
  • freight
  • private vehicles
  • loading and servicing
  • parking and access.

The importance of the activities is assessed in three separate formats:

  • how they are currently prioritised
  • how they should be prioritised today to meet current demand
  • how they should be prioritised in the future to meet changes in transport demand.

Step 4 - Prepare mandate

The information and analysis captured through steps 1 to 3 is summarised within a document known as the Roads and Streets Framework (RASF) mandate.

Each street will have a RASF mandate which will be used as the starting point for all projects, defining the vision and principles that the design should reflect.

The RASF mandate may identify multiple priorities. Our streets have a finite amount of space, and therefore some compromises may be required to accommodate different needs.

Any identified safety concerns (strategic and specific) are also noted on the RASF mandate.

Step 5 - Application

Following the development of the Roads and Streets Framework (RASF) mandate, the Transport Design Manual is used to transform the vision and principles into a design.

The RASF mandate can also be used to inform the development of a business case (to justify funding for a project) or network operating plan (i.e. how traffic signals are managed and prioritised).

Guidance and support

If you are a transport planning practitioner and want more information or guidance about using the Roads and Streets Framework, contact our team at RASF@at.govt.nz

References

*Values presented on the nine group typology matrix image:

Place significance 1 Place significance 2 Place significance 3
Movement significance 3 P1/M3 P2/M3 P3/M3
Movement significance 2 P1/M2 P2/M2 P3/M2
Movement significance 1 P1/M1 P2/M1 P3/M1

Place and Movement significance values 1 to 3 represent Local (1) to Regional (3).