November-December 2019 community feedback
The Southwest Gateway Programme team would like to thank you for providing feedback during the recent round of public engagement that was open from Monday 18 November to Sunday 8 December 2019.
We held seven community open days, spoke to more than 850 people who provided nearly 300 post-it note comments on the programme.
We also received 221 online submissions, which we’re currently reading and analysing.
What happens next?
Your feedback will give us a better understanding of the programme area, your needs, and any improvements that can be made to the proposals.
Once we’ve analysed all feedback, we’ll use it to refine the proposals and compile a public engagement summary report – this will be made available in the coming months.
When the report is ready, we’ll send you an email with a link to the report and the programme webpage.
More information
Read the Southwest Gateway programme overview [PDF, 9.6 MB]
If you have any questions or require any further information related to the Southwest Gateway Programme, please contact the team on 0800 133 331, or email southwestgateway@nzta.govt.nz
November-December 2018 community feedback
In November and December 2018, the Southwest Gateway project teams held nine community engagement events updating the local community on progress, next steps and listened to feedback.
In addition, we met with local government, Mana Whenua and key interest groups.
Engagement summary
Overall, feedback has been positive with support for investment in public transport and walking and cycling, as well as improving safety on local loads and state highways.
For more detail on what we heard and how it has helped to shape the project:
2018 Southwest Gateway engagement summary [PDF, 420 KB]
| Key themes | How community feedback has been included | |
| Safety | We heard support for state highway, local road, station, walking and cycling improvements that enhance safety and provide separated facilities. |
Separated facilities for public transport, walking and cycling will be provided. Safety measures such as median barriers, raised speed tables, improved lighting and signage, as well as new and upgraded intersections will be provided along State Highway 20B and Puhinui Road by 2021. |
| Coordination and integration | We heard that rapid transit needs to integrate with the current and proposed future transport network to improve connectivity. |
We are working closely with other initiatives such as Supporting Growth to create a connected transport system that supports accessibility and growth. We are working with the Eastern Busway project to coordinate the delivery of Botany Interchange to provide easy transfers between rapid transit and local buses. The rapid transit route will integrate with key interchanges at Manukau and Puhinui to improve connections to the rail network. |
| Customer centric transport | We heard that rapid transit needs to be efficient and reliable with frequent services that support the travel needs of users, including shift workers. Services would need to be affordable, safe, easy to use and accessible. |
By 2021, electric buses will be introduced between the airport, Puhinui Station Interchange and Manukau. AirportLink services will operate 7 day a week every 10-minutes 4am – 9pm and every 15-minutes 9pm – 1.30am. Over time, as demand increases these services will be extended to Botany and high-capacity bus rapid transit vehicles will be introduced to provide a ‘turn-up-and-go’ experience. The vehicle and station design will ensure services are accessible, fast and reliable. In the long term high-capacity bus rapid transit vehicles will provide a 'turn-up-and-go' experience. The vehicles and station design will ensure services are accessible, fast and reliable. |
| Environmental and social opportunities and effects | We heard about the strong Mana Whenua connection to the Southwest Gateway Programme area. |
We are working with Mana Whenua to better understand cultural values and how we can protect them. Ecologists, coastal processes and landscape and visual specialists have been be engaged to help us manage environmental effects and where possible, enhance and protect the existing environment. |
| Growth and development | We heard that current transport services are unreliable and do not meet people’s needs, limiting access and growth potential, restricts choice and the uptake of public transport. | We are planning now for recent and future growth in south and east Auckland over the next 30 years. This will be a staged approach of new and frequent bus services, new and upgraded stations, rapid transit and state highway improvements. |
During the last round of engagement, we asked the public for feedback on options for the route between Manukau and Puhinui and Puhinui and the airport.
| Area | Key themes | How community feedback has been included |
| Manukau and Puhinui |
The majority of people we spoke to supported travel along Manukau Station Road as it is closer to the bus and train stations and provides better use of current infrastructure. There was also support for the option that travels along Ronwood Avenue as it provides a faster journey through Manukau and a better connection to the shopping areas. |
We have completed further technical work and identified that rapid transit will travel to/from Auckland Airport along State Highway 20B, Puhinui Road and Lambie Drive to the upgraded Puhinui Station Interchange. From here, it travels though Manukau Centre via Manukau Station Road, Davies Avenue and Ronwood Avenue to support investment in housing, schools, employment and transport. It then travels via Te Irirangi Drive to a new high-quality interchange at Botany where it will connect with the Eastern Busway. The preferred route balances the benefits of connecting shopping areas in Manukau with the bus and rail stations, as well as providing a more direct link to the airport, reducing travel times. |
| Puhinui and the airport |
80 per cent supported travel along State Highway 20B as it would be direct, fast and connect to industrial employment areas. There was little support for travel along State Highway 20/20A as it would be less direct. |
