Malcolm McCracken
The largest projects, often with the highest costs or biggest impacts are the most publicised. Although the team at City Planning NZ will cover these, we are also aiming to highlight analyse the smaller projects going on in Auckland and across NZ. Welcome to our series, Under the Radar.
Our first instalment is focussing on the Sylvia Park – Bus and Cycling Improvements project which comes under the wider AMETI (Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative) Project. Sylvia Park suffers from severe congestion, not just at peak times, but also at weekends when the shopping centre is at its busiest.
Currently, there is no bus priority or cycling infrastructure to encourage shoppers out of their cars. Although there is the successful Sylvia Park Train Station which is in the top 10 highest used stations on the network.
Bus Improvements
With the implementation of the New Network, Sylvia Park’s role as a bus hub has increased significantly. This includes the frequent 32 route to Mangere via Otahuhu, as well as the frequent 66 crosstown route to Point Chevalier. This reflects the area being a major destination for shoppers as well well as an employment centre, particularly with the new office tower rising at its centre. To serve the growing amount of buses travelling through, as well as terminating at Sylvia Park. Auckland Transport plans to create a new 8 berth bus station on the site of the existing 4 berth station which is at the front of the mall.
However, as anyone who has visited Sylvia Park would know, Mount Wellington Highway gets extremely congested around the motorway on ramps and the entrances to Sylvia Park. Currently, there are no bus lanes, this means that buses get stuck in traffic and run behind schedule. Auckland Transport has developed a plan to get buses to bypass the most congested part of the highway by using the road network within Sylvia Park.
As part of this, a new bus-only link will follow the rail corridor to the Sylvia Park Road – Mount Wellington Highway intersection, passing under the Southern Motorway. This route is highlighted by the close-up image below.
*Please note our images show the rough alignment, no concepts or design work has been released for this section of the project.
Analysis
Although these plans will improve the reliability and overall bus experience, there are some small changes that could create more benefits. In particular, if the new Bus Station was to be placed at the back of the mall beside the rail station, as well as allowing more buses, it would create a stronger connection between bus and rail which is important with the New Network. It would also create a more direct route for buses through the mall exiting through Musket Place as shown below, instead of them having to detour to the front of the mall which usually suffers from more congestion.
Cycling Improvements
Currently, there is no safe cycling infrastructure in the area, with the exception of the shared path running beside the South-Eastern Highway to where it intersects Great South Road. This makes it an unsafe for cycling and Auckland Transport has started work on improving cycling infrastructure in the area. This includes a new shared cycle path for cyclists and pedestrians along Mt Wellington Highway. Creating links to Onehunga via the South Eastern Highway shared path and north towards Panmure, where shared paths and on-road cycle lanes have been completed. Heading south, it will pass under the Southern Motorway and provide new connectivity between Sylvia Park and Pacific Rise as shown below.
This will link to a shared path along Mount Wellington Highway to the Otahuhu Town Centre as part of Stage 2 of the Southern Connections project. You can read more on that here and see the drawings here. Construction was meant to have begun on this stage in March 2018 but currently has not taken place.
Sylvia Park is also zoned as a Metropolitan Centre, one of 10 in the Unitary Plan. These a sub-regional centres second only to the CBD, making smaller transport projects like this all the more significant. City Planning NZ’s Urban Development Editor Matthew Bai said that “It’s positive to see transportation infrastructure such as busways and cycle lanes being reinforced by the high intensity, mixed-use zoning under Auckland’s Unitary Plan. With a “Metropolitan Centre” zoning, the centre can accommodate a variety of land uses, including residential, hotels, and as has recently been the case in Sylvia Park, office buildings.”
Bai also commented that “Sylvia Park’s recent retail expansion highlights the importance of accessibility to and from the centre. While a new multi-deck carpark is being constructed, the importance of public transportation should not be understated, as the costs are often lower than the provision of increased parking. Reducing the need for more parking spots has the additional benefit of reallocating valuable land for more productive uses, consistent with the purpose of the Metropolitan Center Zone.”
This albeit smaller project at Sylvia Park, is significant as it recognises the need to provide for all modes for access to our major centres like Sylvia Park, not just cars. This article also highlights how land-use and transportation planning are intrinsically linked. In the future, we will discuss this further with a particular focus on zoning densities around the major transport projects that are planned.