Onewa Road, one of the busiest routes in Auckland, has become a model of productivity with over 30,000 vehicles moving an estimated 100,000 people each day.

But now important changes are needed to keep even more people moving efficiently along it.

Auckland Transport (AT) and the Kaipātiki Local Board want to help ease congestion on Onewa Road further and would like to share a plan with the community.

“Residents and businesses here rely on Onewa Road every day, and it’s important it is efficient for our growing community,” North Shore Councillor Richard Hills says.

“As a regular bus user, I see how efficient the T3 is at moving over 65% of morning commuters in that lane, but we need to continue to provide improvements for all users at all times of the day."

Chris Martin, AT’s Road Network Optimisation Manager, says AT has been working closely with elected officials about improving this busy road.

“While the T3 lane is for buses and vehicles with three or more occupants, by making the road more productive at moving more people, it results in better journey times for all road users.

“We want to make further improvements to move everyone along faster, with bus boosters and queue detection technology as part of our plans,” Mr Martin says.

Northcote MP Dan Bidois is right behind AT’s plans to optimise Onewa Road.

“Let’s be clear, this is not a rebuild, this is simply making the most of the space already there on Onewa Road to ease the burden of congestion and to make the road safer for the tens of thousands of people who use it every day,” he says.

With just two lanes available each way, a T2 lane has been in place since 1982, and a T3 lane since 2015, enabling reduced journey times for all road users including buses and cars.

Improvements have been made in recent years including adding highly effective CCTV cameras to help keep the transit lane clear and moving to limit parking and make it safer turning into side streets.

There has also been a continued increase in the number of bus services using Onewa Road, most recently with the upgrade of the popular 94 bus to a frequent service connecting Beach Haven, Birkdale, Birkenhead, Northcote, and Takapuna with trips every 15 minutes, 7am till 7pm, every day of the week.

AT’s plan includes a shared path for pedestrians, cyclists and e-scooter users, and improved technology at pedestrian crossings adjacent to the three schools on Onewa Road.

But Councillor Hills says it’s important that these changes aren’t just decided by AT and the locally elected representatives.

“We’re keen to hear from our community on how we can help make things better and move smarter.”

This is part of a wider programme of new technology and improvements Auckland Transport, and the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi are implementing to help our existing roads keep up with the tens of thousands of extra vehicles being added to the roads each year.

Kaipātiki Local Board and AT invite you to provide feedback at haveyoursay.at.govt.nz, and you’ll find it under the “open for feedback” section.Feedback is open until 6 April 2025.

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