4 September 2019

We regularly hear about congestion on Auckland’s roads but we don’t hear about the relatively inexpensive, quick and effective ways to help deal with it.

The technical jargon for a range of measures is "Road Network Optimisation", and since 2010 it has taken more than 18,000 vehicles off our roads.

AT’s Group Manager Network Management Randhir Karma says there are low cost ways to make the most of the existing roads by doing small changes such as re-jigging the road to create extra capacity.

The $8 million a year programme is enabled by the Regional Fuel Tax. “We actively monitor the roads and also take on feedback from drivers to identify points of significant congestion. On average individual projects have delivered a return of $4 to $10 for every dollar invested.”
He says AT is currently looking at 18 projects across Auckland to improve how our roads operate. “These involve changing traffic signal times (phasing), introducing roundabouts at intersections so that traffic can continue to circulate, changing lane configurations, improving connections for pedestrians, putting in special vehicle lanes and introducing dynamic lanes, as has been done on Whangaparaoa Rd.“
Each year approximately 350 traffic signals are reviewed and optimised.
AT first began its road optimisation programme in 2010 and since then there have been some impressive results:
• travel time savings of up to 500,000 hours per year
• T3 on Manukau/Pah Roads average 14-minutes faster for bus and T3 users
• vehicle emission reductions of 550 tonnes a year
• fuel savings of 250,000 litres a year
• 25-50% reduction in bus travel times on roads which have been worked on
• reduction of 18,400 single occupant vehicle movements
• freight routes retain reliable travel times year to year
• Whangaparaoa Dynamic Lane project saw a 58 per cent increase in people movement with an annual saving of 83,500 hours and a reduction of 845 tonnes in CO2 emissions

Optimisation projects in 2019/20: https://at.govt.nz/media/1980753/item-111-optimisation-capital-expenditure-projects-2019_2020-attachement-2.pdf
Road Network Optimisation: https://at.govt.nz/media/1980754/item-111-road-network-optimisation-attachment-1.pdf
Dynamic lanes Whangaparaoa Rd: https://at.govt.nz/media/1980751/item-111-whangaparaoa-dynamic-lane-customer-feedback-attachment-3.pdfhttps://at.govt.nz/dynamiclanes

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