What we on the Shore have long known as the SkyPath is now more bureaucratically entitled by its new master the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) as the Auckland Harbour Bridge Shared Path. So practical, so prosaic – and so much less aspirational than SkyPath. But who cares, if it gets built in the end? And it seems that under NZTA progress is being made.
“Project type – walking and cycling” says the website. “Project status – Investigation and design”. NZTA is now working on a “Detailed Business Case” to examine the path in more detail; the project is expected to go to the Transport Agency Board for approval later this year. Late last month and early this month, those investigations took the form of asking for more feedback. “This time we’d like to hear feedback more specifically about how the shared path will connect or “land” at Westhaven and Northcote Point,” said a news release in early August.
NZTA had in May announced its preferred design for the path – a five-metre-wide path attached to the southbound side of the bridge, that directly links Westhaven to Northcote Point and connects with the planned SeaPath shared path to Takapuna.
In July, NZTA held drop-in meetings to canvass ideas and concerns by the two communities most directly affected – Northcote and Westhaven/Herne Bay at each end of the path. A number of themes emerged from these meetings:
The land connection has been a point of debate since the SkyPath project was first proposed, with Northcote residents concerned about traffic impacts at their end, and the numbers of people parking, walking and cycling in narrow suburban streets. These fears may have been allayed by the NZTA revised design, announced in May this year, but NZTA has clearly decided consultation is the better part of valour, and in late August and early September held drop-in sessions in Ponsonby, Glenfield and Northcote to share proposed landing options with residents on either side of this walking/cycling link so they can let the agency know what they think.
NZ Transport Agency Senior Manager Project Delivery Andrew Thackwray explains. “Last year the government asked the Transport Agency to deliver a shared path alongside the Auckland Harbour Bridge and in May this year we announced a preferred option. The community engagement meetings in July were to establish contact with local communities on both sides of the bridge. While we didn’t have any new or additional information to what had already been shared on our website, these drop-in sessions were a great opportunity for the project team to meet with communities, and stakeholders to help us to understand the community’s needs for both the Auckland Harbour Bridge Shared Path and SeaPath projects. Design work on the bridge has continued since then and we now have new information to share on where the shared path will “land” on either side of the bridge and connect to local walking and cycling networks.
“We are keen to see familiar faces again because we have new information and because we are asking for specific feedback about the landings, but our invitation to the sessions is for anyone interested in the work we are doing, so more and new people are very welcome.”
The three options for the land connection are: consented ramps that are part of the original SkyPath design; ramps specifically designed to connect with the new part of the path; or a combination of lifts and stairs. Consultation work to date indicates that the favoured option is an enhanced version of the consented SkyPath design. “These new ramps represent a safe, well-designed and cost-effective way for all users of the path to access it easily and safely while taking into account impacts on the local areas at each end,” Andrew said after the July drop-in sessions.
“There was no detailed discussion on the landings at the July engagement,” he explains to Channel, “because the plans weren’t developed then. We know there is significant public support for us to get on and build the shared path as quickly as possible and we are grateful for the feedback that we’ve had so far. We have heard that people generally like the five-metre width of the path and feel that it provides safe connections for users.”
The August/September engagement sessions, he says, were to gather people’s feedback and to hear their concerns and ideas, “which can influence or be incorporated into the plans being developed. We genuinely want to understand people’s ideas and concerns. We will be listening carefully to the feedback we receive.”
Andrew Thackwray says that the detailed business case will be finished before the end of this year. The next stage is detailed design and any further consenting that may be required. Part of NZTA’s current work is looking at the consent that has already been secured for the SkyPath design for this link. “We want to find the best way to get this project delivered as quickly as we can, so we are working out how we can use the existing consent, what changes may be needed or whether we need to secure new consents for this design to be built. “
Many Shore residents will be pleased to know that construction could start as early as late 2020, with construction expected to take about two and a half years to build.
You can see more on the July engagement at https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/projects/auckland-harbour-bridge-shared-path/auckland-harbour-bridge-shared-path-seapath-community-engagement-summary-July-2019.pdf or more on the whole project at https://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/auckland-harbour-bridge-shared-path/.
