Central Connector, Auckland

Last updated

The route of the Central Connector. The light blue section shows the area of major street upgrades that occurred as part of the project. Central Connector Landsat 7 Image Auckland.jpg
The route of the Central Connector. The light blue section shows the area of major street upgrades that occurred as part of the project.
Grafton Bridge, which is part of the main public transport connection between the Auckland CBD and Newmarket and many eastern/southeastern suburbs. Grafton Bridge Panorama Auckland.jpg
Grafton Bridge, which is part of the main public transport connection between the Auckland CBD and Newmarket and many eastern/southeastern suburbs.
Preparatory work during the construction period outside Auckland Hospital in July 2008 (as roads are only rarely reconstructed, underground services were also upgraded as part of the project). Initial Works On Central Connector Ackl.jpg
Preparatory work during the construction period outside Auckland Hospital in July 2008 (as roads are only rarely reconstructed, underground services were also upgraded as part of the project).
A bus on Symonds Street, after the upgrade. Bikes Safety Campaign On Symonds Street.jpg
A bus on Symonds Street, after the upgrade.

The Central Connector (formerly called Auckland Central Transit Corridor), is a bus route (mooted as a potential future light rail route) [1] between Britomart Transport Centre in the Auckland CBD, New Zealand, and the commercial suburb of Newmarket. It has some aspects of a bus rapid transit link. It was expected to improve journey times by about 14 minutes for around 2,600 buses per week, about 65,000 passengers daily. [2] [3] Work began in April 2008 and is now finished. [4] [5] [6]

Contents

In November 2007 John Banks, the Mayor of Auckland City, ordered a review of the project as part of his promised crackdown on rate increases. It was decided to go forward with the project, in part due to it being expected to cost Auckland City (according to late 2007 estimates) only NZ$8.5 million, with Land Transport New Zealand paying $20.5 million in addition to Auckland Regional Transport Authority's (ARTA) $13.7 million share. Banks' first Council, before its 2004 defeat by Dick Hubbard, had also first mooted the project to replace the tramway that was planned under Christine Fletcher's council but cancelled under Banks'. [5] [7] [8]

Characteristics

The route runs from Britomart via Symonds Street to Karangahape Road then over Grafton Bridge to Khyber Pass Road in Newmarket. It passes through Auckland University's City Campus on Symonds Street and past Auckland University of Technology's City Campus on Wellesley Street East, Auckland City Hospital, Auckland University's Grafton Campus, Auckland Domain, and Grafton Railway Station, all important public transport destinations.

Grafton Bridge is closed to private vehicle traffic during the day, creating a bus lane in each direction between 7am-7pm. This part of the project was reviewed after protests by councillor Ken Baguely. [8] However, part-funding for the project by ARTA had been contingent on those operating hours. [9]

Most of the streets en route received substantial overhauls, with, for example, relaid footpaths. Ten pedestrian crossings were to be improved and enlarged, especially around the university. The changes included the closure of Alfred Street, a side street off Symonds Street bisecting the university campus in that area, to all traffic except Link and City Circuit buses from the end of 2006, [10] and new canopies over footpaths in the university areas. [3] [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Māngere Bridge (bridges)</span> Bridge in New Zealand

Māngere Bridge, officially also called the Manukau Harbour Crossing, is a dual motorway bridge over the Manukau Harbour in south-western Auckland, New Zealand, crossing between the suburb also known as Māngere Bridge and the suburb of Onehunga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Britomart Transport Centre</span> Multimodal transit station in New Zealand

Britomart Transport Centre, also known as Britomart railway station, is the public transport hub in the central business district of Auckland and the northern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk railway line. It combines a railway station in a former Edwardian post office, extended with expansive modernist architectural elements, with a bus interchange. It is at the foot of Queen Street, the main commercial thoroughfare of the CBD, with the main ferry terminal just across Quay Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newmarket railway station, Auckland</span> Railway station in New Zealand

Newmarket railway station is a station in the inner-city suburb of Newmarket in Auckland, New Zealand. It serves the Southern, Onehunga and Western Lines of the Auckland railway network, and is the second-busiest station in Auckland, after Britomart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Onehunga Branch</span> Branch line between Penrose and Onehunga in Auckland

The Onehunga Branch railway line is a section of the Onehunga Line in Auckland, New Zealand. It was constructed by the Auckland Provincial Government and opened from Penrose to Onehunga on 24 December 1873, and extended to Onehunga Wharf on 28 November 1878. It is 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi) in length and is single-track only.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Motorway Junction</span>

The Central Motorway Junction or CMJ, is the intersection of State Highways 1 and 16, just south of the central business district of Auckland. A multilevel structure, it has been described as a "fiendishly complicated, multi-layered puzzle of concrete, steel and asphalt". Carrying around 200,000 vehicles a day, it is one of the busiest stretches of road in New Zealand.

Transport in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, is defined by factors that include the shape of the Auckland isthmus, the suburban character of much of the urban area, a history of focusing investment on roading projects rather than public transport, and high car-ownership rates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grafton Bridge</span> Bridge in Auckland, New Zealand

Grafton Bridge is a road bridge spanning Grafton Gully in Auckland, New Zealand. Built of reinforced concrete in 1910, it connects the Auckland CBD and Karangahape Road with Grafton. It spans about 97.6 metres (320 feet), rises 25.6 metres (84 feet) above the abutments to a height of around 43 metres (142 feet) over the gully. When the bridge was constructed, it contained the largest reinforced concrete arch in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grafton Gully</span>

Grafton Gully is a deep and very wide gully running northwards towards the sea through the volcanic hills of the Auckland volcanic field in New Zealand. It divides the CBD from the suburbs of Grafton and Parnell in the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public transport in Auckland</span> Information about public transit in Auckland

Public transport in Auckland, the largest metropolitan area of New Zealand, consists of three modes: bus, train and ferry. Services are coordinated by Auckland Transport under the AT Metro brand. Britomart Transport Centre is the main transport hub.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avondale–Southdown Line</span>

The Avondale–Southdown Line is a proposed railway line between Avondale and Southdown in Auckland, New Zealand. One of its main functions would be to remove north–south freight trains from the section of the Auckland rail system that has the most passenger traffic.

The Western Line in Auckland, New Zealand is the name given to suburban rail services that operate between Britomart and Swanson via Newmarket.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Harbour Crossing, Auckland</span>

Second Harbour Crossing is the name given to the proposed second transport link across the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. The second link would supplement the Auckland Harbour Bridge which is nearly at capacity and also provide more redundancy and public transport linkages between the Auckland city centre and the North Shore. It is sometimes also called the Third Harbour Crossing, as there is already an Upper Harbour Bridge. More recently, it is named Additional Waitematā Harbour Crossing (AWHC) in planning documents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auckland railway electrification</span>

Auckland railway electrification occurred in phases as part of investment in a new infrastructure for Auckland's urban railway network. Electrification of the network had been proposed for several decades. Installation started in the late 2000s after funds were approved from a combination of regional and central government budgets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwestern Cycleway</span>

The Northwestern Cycleway is a 12 km mostly off-road cycle route in New Zealand that connects the Auckland CBD with the suburb of Westgate. For most of its length, it runs alongside the Northwestern Motorway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grafton railway station, Auckland</span> Railway station in New Zealand

Grafton Railway Station is a station serving the inner-city suburb of Grafton in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on the Western Line of Auckland's passenger rail network and consists of an island platform located in a trench near the intersection of Khyber Pass Road and Park Road. The station opened on 11 April 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AT HOP card</span> Public transport fare card

The AT HOP card is an electronic fare payment card that was released in two versions on Auckland public transport services, beginning in May 2011. The smart card roll out was the first phase in the introduction of an integrated ticketing and fares system that was rolled out across the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City Rail Link</span> Rail project in New Zealand

The City Rail Link (CRL) is a rail project currently under construction in Auckland, New Zealand. The project consists of a 3.5 km long double-track rail tunnel underneath Auckland's city centre, between Britomart Transport Centre and Mount Eden railway station. Two new underground stations will be constructed to serve the city centre: Te Waihorotiu near Aotea Square and Karanga-a-Hape near Karangahape Road. Britomart will be converted from a terminus station into a through station and Mount Eden station will be completely rebuilt with four platforms to serve as an interchange between the new CRL line and the existing Western Line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auckland Airport Line</span>

The Auckland Airport Line was a proposed heavy rail line in Auckland, New Zealand, that would have linked Auckland Airport with the Auckland central business district via central isthmus suburbs.

The Onehunga Line in Auckland, New Zealand is the name given to suburban train services that operate between Newmarket and Onehunga.

References

  1. ↑ Revamping Grafton Bridge to cost $7.3m - The New Zealand Herald , Tuesday 3 October 2006
  2. ↑ "Brian Rudman: Let taxis use Grafton Bridge to ferry the sick to hospital". The New Zealand Herald – nzherald.co.nz. 7 May 2006. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 Central Connector to improve bus travel times - CityScene, Auckland City Council newsletter, Sunday 9 March 2008
  4. ↑ Newmarket Development Programme [ permanent dead link ] - Auckland City Council Transport Committee, Friday 14 December 2007
  5. 1 2 3 Dearnaley, Mathew (14 December 2007). "Newmarket bus corridor gets nod". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  6. 1 2 Dearnaley, Mathew (15 February 2007). "Cost of city-to-Newmarket busway doubles to $46m". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  7. ↑ Orsman, Bernard (8 August 2007). "Council puts light rail back on track". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  8. 1 2 Dearnaley, Mathew (27 November 2007). "Subsidies may not save $43m bus corridor". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  9. ↑ Central connector - progress update [ dead link ] (Agenda memo for the Transport Committee of Auckland City Council, 14 July 2009. Accessed 2009-11-23.)
  10. ↑ [https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10403146 Students welcome street closure - New Zealand Herald , Wednesday 27 September 2006
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.