Media release 

11 October, 2007

Waitakere decides its ideal New Lynn transport concept plan

Waitakere City Council has signed off on its concept plan for the New Lynn bus and rail development project, and it is due to start work by the end of the year.

The project – called the Transport Oriented Development (TOD) – calls for the railway and station to be placed in a trench, to have a new bus terminal located right alongside, new road connections and a variety of other improvements.

The concept plan represents Waitakere City Council’s project scope designed to help develop a world class town centre, to serve Waitakere and the Auckland region, until at least 2060.

New Lynn is identified by Waitakere and the regional Growth Strategy as a major sub-regional growth centre whose population and commercial sectors are expected to double within the foreseeable future.

The main part of the project is being carried out by ONTRACK - owners of the rail tracks and corridor. 

“ONTRACK is funded to duplicate and lower the track into a trench and to build the station platforms. However, there is a huge amount of detail that must be resolved to determine how well what is built serves New Lynn. We are building for a big and busy future and so it is critical we get that detail right,” says Mayor Bob Harvey.

“We have had many experts working on a painstaking analysis of exactly what should go where, and how it will function and what will make people want to use it,” he says. 

“That is all covered in the concept plan which we’re offering to ONTRACK and our other regional partners such as ARTA and the ARA, saying that this is our view of how the project should be built in detail,” he says.

The exact location of the station is considered critical to user convenience and safety, with entrances outside the intersection of Memorial Drive and Totara Avenue.

Station location is also vital to developing an effective bus/rail interchange, with bus stops immediately outside the station. 

This meant having sufficient road room to accommodate a large and busy fleet of buses providing feeder services to and from the New Lynn ward area, and other parts of the region. 

Many of these buses would coincide with train services in both directions, running at 10 minute intervals.

To avoid unnecessary congestion, bus layover locations will be taken to the edge of town and the current bus station in New Lynn will cease to function and become available for commercial or retail development.

This project is the centrepiece of a much larger revitalisation plan for the town centre and the location and aesthetic of the new amenities is considered vital to the development of a town centre people want to live in, establish businesses in and socialise in.

Accordingly the concept plan calls for attractive buildings, structures and open spaces to encourage people to use the area. People using the area not only add to the bustle of an attractive town centre, but being able to over-look rail and bus platforms adds to their safety.

“Right now New Lynn is cut in half by the railway. Not only is that inhibiting development, but road and rail traffic are in conflict resulting in road congestion. That will get much worse as the town centre grows and train services become more frequent.

“Using the TOD model, which we have seen working to good effect at Subiaco in Perth, we can rejoin the two halves and get rail and road out of each other’s way.  Better bus and rail services will promote the use of public transport and free up the roads for commercial traffic.

“More people living in higher density housing adds to the economic viability of the town centre as a business location – offering more jobs; it also provides patronage for public transport. So the benefits are circular,” says Mayor Bob Harvey

The council will provide the concept plan to ONTRACK, ARTA, the ARA and other major players in the development of Auckland infrastructure – and recommended for adoption.

The Government has already committed $120 million to the project, and council is providing funding of $20 million.

ENDS 

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