Letters: We don’t need another study on harbour crossing options - that was done almost 20 years ago
Studies on harbour crossing already done
The discussion on the next Auckland harbour crossing has resurfaced, yet again in an election year.
Would you believe that this groundwork was already done in 2008 by Transit NZ, North Shore City Council and Auckland City Council? I was the North Shore City mayor at the time and know how comprehensive the studies were.
Some 160 options were thoroughly explored. After exhaustive investigation, Option 2C was finally chosen and publicly announced.
That option comprised several parallel multi-lane road tunnels between Esmonde Rd interchange on the North Shore and Victoria Park on the city side, with the possibility of light rail being included within the tunnels.
These tunnels would become State Highway 1, connecting the Northern and Southern motorways. The harbour bridge would effectively become a local highway serving the Auckland CBD. It would remain a free local road while the SH1 tunnels would be tolled as it was a faster bypass of the central city.
This option was fully documented and legal designation of the corridor was commenced. At the time it was a $3b to $5b project.
It coincided with a report showing the harbour bridge had about 25 years’ life before requiring major refurbishment and replacement in some areas. To reduce the deterioration of the structure, and as some metal fatigue was evident, about 900 tonnes of steel was welded onto the harbour bridge to reinforce the outer clip-on lanes. This would help extend the life of the structure, but was before the arrival of much larger double-decker buses, and much heavier truck limits.
It amazes me that 18 years later the Government and Auckland Council seem to be right back at square one, commencing investigations into the next harbour crossing. My suggestion: pull out Option 2C from 2008 and update that, as it was more than proven out of 160 options to be the best solution. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel with another army of consultants. We might then get the next harbour crossing completed before the harbour bridge really does become dangerously compromised and a national risk.
Andrew Williams, former MP and former mayor of North Shore City.
Closing the gap
The speed at which action is happening on the second harbour crossing is such that plate tectonics will probably have closed up the harbour before any construction has started, eliminating the need for a crossing at all.
Jonathan Jepson, Albany.
What we leave behind
What to do about our future, that road ahead for our young? How are they feeling reading the news from Europe, of the fires racing uncontrolled for so many weeks, wondering all the time how they are going to cope, not just with the approaching summer, but the seasons ahead for years to come, facing those uncontrollable forces of sun, wind and rain, building in intensity, challenging their survival skills as they face destruction all around for decades to come. It’s what we have done to them over half a century.
As older people, do we have a responsibility for their future?
We are the generation travelling widely, often by plane and liner, those two means of transport fuelled by fossil fuels, the main cause of climate change.
Do we consider our footprint in our pursuit of the “good life”? Do we make a conscious effort to choose a clean mode of transport?
Are we going to continue on, enjoying what’s left of our time on this earth without thought or care for our young?
We started out in life challenging the system, believing in what we were doing for a better life, a better world. Did we forget this along the way?
Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.
Broken system
Our NZ Health system is well and truly broken.
Every week there has been a report of unnecessary deaths in our hospitals, waits of at least three weeks to see a GP, children on “free dental care” not able to source a dentist, waits for elective eye and orthopaedic surgeries a mile long, hospitals in dire need of maintenance, emergency departments overflowing with patients, some parked in corridors.
Who are the MPs who are going to fix this? We have candidates who are entertainers, some with no political skills, lobbyists flying their own pet projects, and some who are abusive and racist.
New Zealand needs sensible MPs and leaders who are willing to govern for all New Zealanders, providing warm, dry housing, nutritious affordable food, living-wage jobs for all, education and health facilities. Let us get back to basics!
Never has it been so difficult to choose and “sift out the wheat from the chaff” as with this upcoming election.
Marie Kaire, Whangārei.
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