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About the project
Who is delivering this work?
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi is working with Ngā Iwi o Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland Transport and Auckland Council and our Alliance professional services providers to continue to progress options for this nationally significant project.
Why is it needed?
There is a long history of planning work for improvements to cross-harbour transport connections, with at least ten major studies conducted over the past 30 years.
At a regional level, the growth of Auckland’s North Shore and the wider region is placing increasing pressure on the transport system. In addition, SH1 is a nationally strategic corridor and a key route for the nation’s freight, goods, and services.
The current Auckland Harbour Bridge structure is coming under increasing operational pressure, affecting the resilience of the bridge and the wider network, and these pressures are forecast to increase further as population, employment and freight needs continues to grow. Ongoing regular maintenance is needed on the bridge structure, and unexpected incidents such as crashes and high wind events mean the bridge and wider network are increasingly compromised, causing widespread disruption to the transport system.
There are ongoing environmental and climate related considerations that this project will tackle when investigating options for new connections, especially relating to rising sea levels affecting the section of Northern Motorway from Esmonde Road to the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
The Auckland Harbour Bridge carries most major services and utilities, such as power, telecommunications and water and we will look at how we integrate these services into any new or existing infrastructure to continue to support these essential connections.
What has the planning work involved so far?
The current phase builds on the 2018-2020 business case.
Part of the process involves assessing a range of options. For this project, this included:
- evaluation of the existing Northern Busway for bus passengers; and
- options to look at the future use of the existing Auckland Harbour Bridge while also considering the form, function and route of new resilient connections across the Waitematā Harbour.
What will this project cost?
The potential cost of a future programme of work will be established during the current phase.
This project will be one of New Zealand’s biggest transport investments in the coming years and is expected to involve significant design and construction work.
Why is resilience important?
We know that the ageing Auckland Harbour Bridge is vulnerable to delays caused by crashes and extreme weather events, causing partial or full closures. This creates travel disruption and delays, as well as economic impacts for the movement of goods, freight and services. The bridge will soon need intensive, more frequent maintenance to keep it operational, which will mean more closures. Beyond the Auckland Harbour Bridge, parts of both the Northern Motorway and Northern Busway are susceptible to flooding, extreme weather events and ongoing sea level rise.
Resilience of Auckland’s transport network is a key objective of this project.
In addition, the section of State Highway 1 between the Auckland Harbour Bridge and Akoranga Drive needs to be raised to help protect against sea level rise.
