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Supporting growth - Delivering transport networks

Auckland Transport (AT), Auckland Council, and the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) are working together to develop transport networks to support Auckland’s new housing and business areas over the next 30 years.

This will include a mix of new public transport, walking and cycling infrastructure, new or upgraded roads, upgraded state highways, and optimised existing networks.

Project status: Investigation & design.
Project zone: Region-wide.

Project overview

Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city - home to about a third of the nation’s population - and continues to be the country’s fastest-growing region. An additional 700,000 to 1 million people are expected to call Auckland home over the next 30 years (Statistics NZ medium and high growth projections, 2013), growth that will require about 400,000 new homes and create 277,000 new jobs.

Graph showing growth areas

While most of Auckland's growth will take place within the existing urban areas, around 15,000 hectares of greenfield (mainly rural) land has been identified for development in the Auckland Unitary Plan (Operative in part). This includes areas zoned ‘future urban’ (rural land zoned for future urban development), as well rural land that has been ‘live zoned’ (zoned for immediate urban development).

The majority of this growth will be located in:

Over the next 30 years, we expect there will be around 110,000 new homes and 50,000 new jobs in these growth areas (The decision version of the Auckland Unitary Plan provides for greater capacity should this be required).

AT, Auckland Council, and NZTA have collaborated to develop the transport network plan needed to support these future urban areas. The programme was formerly known as Transport for Future Urban Growth.

Benefits

Developing the transport networks in these growth areas will:

  • Make the existing transport network safer.
  • Better integrate public transport, roads, footpaths and cycleways.
  • Manage the existing network in a way that gets the most out of what we already have.
  • Contribute to creating strong communities and centres with local jobs and improve access to employment and essential services.
  • Provide greater transport choice for people living in growth areas and allow for high-frequency, high-quality public transport.
  • Improve arterial road connections to future urban areas, and the rest of Auckland.
  • Support Auckland's economic growth by maintaining travel-time reliability for freight to key industrial areas and ports.
  • Help provide certainty for when growth areas will have transport networks in place and be ready for urban development.

Project details

We have developed a preferred network that covers each growth area. These transport network plans will act as overarching planning tools that will guide the transport investment, consenting, and development in each area. The ongoing planning process also links into all other planned transport initiatives for the wider north, west, and south Auckland areas.

Housing development In Takanini

Supporting growth in the south

Takanini, Drury and Pukekohe.

nothern area for development

Supporting growth in the north

Silverdale, Wainui, Dairy Flat and Warkworth.

northwestern greenfields and development

Supporting growth in the north west

Kumeu, Huapai, Whenuapai and Redhills.

The programme will begin delivering some of the key priorities laid out in the Auckland Transport Alignment Project (a collaboration between Auckland Council and the New Zealand Government to improve alignment on a long-term strategic approach to transport in Auckland). We have also worked closely with the 3 water providers (water supply, stormwater, wastewater) to ensure the programme is aligned with the wider regional plans being developed for the city.

The programme supports Auckland Council’s Future Urban Land Supply Strategy that sets the order in which land is supplied for development in future growth areas to house Auckland’s growing population as infrastructure becomes available.

Involving local boards, mana whenua and the community

Mana whenua, local boards, the public, and a wide range of stakeholders have been involved and consulted in the development of the preferred networks for each area. Numerous workshops, meetings, and events were held across the region to understand the issues, opportunities and community aspirations in each area.

Following technical assessments and 2 rounds of public feedback in February/March and April/May 2016, we developed a draft network plan of transport improvements to support growth in Auckland.

Read the Transport for Future Urban Growth combined consultation report - October 2016 (PDF 4.5MB, 164 pages).

In September/October 2016, the Boards of Auckland Transport and the NZ Transport Agency approved the overarching 30-year plan for supporting future urban growth areas.

Next steps

Now there is a preferred network, projects will be delivered to support Auckland Council’s development timeline for each area, and the strategic direction of the Auckland Transport Alignment Project.

Right now, we are implementing a number of short-term projects that support the growth pressures already being experienced in Special Housing Areas and the areas ‘live zoned’ under the Auckland Unitary Plan. Funding for these projects will need to come from a range of sources to support development at the right speeds.

Many of these immediate short-term projects are already being progressed, including:

We are taking into account the preferred transport network in land use planning for areas such as Whenuapai. We are also seeking to confirm funding for local road network development and improvements in Whenuapai and other urgent live-zone or ‘next-in-line’ areas like Wainui.

Our next step will be to make the most of what we already have, which is in line with the Auckland Transport Alignment Project recommended strategic approach. This means:

  • Improvements to the motorway network, particularly in the north-west and south.
  • Extending electrification of the rail line to Pukekohe to serve growth in the south.
  • Improving safety by removing some road/rail level crossings.

At the same time, we will also look at protecting land for longer-term new routes. This will help to provide certainty to communities and developers on where new routes will go. It also means organisations such as utility providers and government agencies like the Ministry of Education can better plan their infrastructure, and property owners and developers have the information they need for their own decisions.

Keeping you informed

Local boards, mana whenua, stakeholders, and the community have been involved and consulted in the development of this plan at every stage, to help ensure we develop the best new places in our region for people to live, work and play. This commitment will continue into the future.

Ongoing opportunities for consultation to help us shape the design and detail of our transport projects will be offered to you as each project develops and goes through design, consent and construction.

Information for property owners

At this stage there are no confirmed plans, only ideas and options. There is no way to tell if a certain property will be affected in the future by one of these transport projects. Over the next few years as we start to develop design plans for the suggested projects, we will engage directly and early with potentially affected property owners to let them know our intentions regarding designation, consenting and property impacts.

The way we approach transport planning means there are several stages during the planning process where we seek the public’s opinion. We are right at the very beginning and there are plenty more opportunities to have your say and influence the design plans that will come in future years.

Documents

For more information on this project

Contact Auckland Transport