New Station: Stoddard Rd

 

A new train station at Stoddard/ Richardson Rds, Mt Roskill just down the road from SH20.

That came up at today’s Auckland City Council transport committee discussion on the Western Ring Route.

Corner Stoddard and Richardson Rds, Owairaka

A council officers’ report to the committee, on the way the route as it will be now, said officers are still working with NZTA as the design continues to develop and become more defined but there are eight key areas where “mitigation and enhancement are required.”

One of them is listed as: Providing for a new rail station for Stoddard town centre at Richardson Rd and ensuring quality access between the station and the surrounding community.

The report, discussing the location within the Owairaka town centre said:

The council has consistently sought that the interchange and related structures should not detract from or create severance within the towncentre. This primarily consists of addressing pedestrian and visual features, but also ensuring that the future rail station is provided for in an appropriate location.
The council has sought that the station be located within the towncentre, just south of and accessed from Richardson Rd, rather than isolated within the interchange. This would give the Council and landowners confidence in the station being an integral part of the town centre’s future development.
The council seeks that NZTA ensure the motorway design and changes to the rail designation do not preclude the construction of a quality rail station accessed from Richardson Rd. The interchange works require the culverting of a portion of an Oakley creek tributary behind the industrial properties and it is intended to partially mitigate this through improving quality of ecology along open sections of Oakley creek elsewhere, such as Alan Wood reserve.

The others key areas listed were:

  • Improving passenger transport on Great North Road through the provision of an additional lane for a morning peak period bus lane between Oakley Ave and Waterview interchange
  • Providing for continuous bus shoulder lanes on SH16 Open
  • Providing increased traffic capacity through St Lukes Rd interchange, including Great North Rd intersection, for the increased volumes due to SH20 Waterview
  • Providing improved pedestrian and cycle facilities at St Lukes Rd interchange, including the provision of western links and improved on/off ramp crossings
  • Improving access to surrounding town centres to support the economic viability of Stoddard, Pt Chevalier, Avondale and Mt Albert town centres
  • Investigating the potential for pedestrian/cycle links over SH16, in the vicinity of Meola Stream and Eric Armishaw Park, and in line with the Point Chevalier Coastal Walkway Network Plan and the Western Bays area plan

Also priorities:

  • Ensuring interchange designs provide for potential future managed lanes at ramp signals
  • Improve local connectivity by constructing improved pedestrian/Improving access to surrounding town centres to support the economic viability of Stoddard, Pt Chevalier, Avondale and Mt Albert town centres
  • improve local connectivity by constructing improved pedestrian/cycle links across Oakley Creek at Phyllis St Reserve, across the transport corridor at Hendon Park, Alan Wood Reserve and across the rail line near Pak’n Save
  • Providing an additional connection from Great North Road to Unitec by constructing a bridge across Oakley Creek near Alford Street
  • Providing a new continuous walking/cycling connection from the current SH20 cycleway to the existing SH16 cycleway which maximises the integration and connectivity with the Council’s open space and current or future walking/cycling networks
  • Providing a continuous and enhanced Northwestern cycleway, meeting Austroads design standards, with easy access for maintenance vehicles and maintaining access through the upgraded Waterview interchange
  • Ensuring international best practice in tunnel monitoring, air quality, deluge sprinklers, motorist/pedestrian emergency exits and safety areas
  • Working with stakeholders to investigate the viability and issues relating to a possible new link road to improve passenger transport and pedestrian/cyclist access to Unitec from Great North Rd, understanding the concerns a road bridge raises in the community

Discussing Hendon Ave, the report said:

The rail designation is shifted slightly eastward and encroaches on some Hendon Avenue properties. This corridor will not be built upon for some time so it may have short-term use as open space not in council ownership as per the current situation. However, the isolated section of railway corridor between housing properties and the motorway will create a no-mans area which is not desirable for public open space or public access and may create an environment that attracts anti-social behaviour.

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14 Comments

 
  1. Kegan says:

    Isn’t this station on the proposed/designated Southdown - Avondale Line rather the Western (North Auckland) Line?

  2. rtc says:

    Yes that’s on the Southdown line.

    Providing for a bus lane on Gt North Rd by widening it to 5 lanes seems ridiculous, with a motorway right next door they should be narrowing it to 1 car lane each way and a bus lane. Anything else will just lead to Gt. North Rd. being as congested as it currently is and its de facto motorway status will remain. Talk about failing to lock in the ‘benefits’ of a motorway to the local roading network.

  3. Matt L says:

    I continue to maintain that a branch line should be built from Avondale to Hillsborough on the existing designation and operating just like the Onehunga and Manukau branch lines will do. The land through here is pretty flat and the bridges have already been designed for the rail line underneath it so it shouldn’t cost that much to do.

    At a future time when we work out how we will fund and build the line from Hillsborough to Onehunga it can then be joined up.

  4. DanC says:

    I agree with Matt L with the rail, good call.

  5. max says:

    I like the fact that pedestrian and cycle connections do crop up repeatedly in here. 5 or 10 years ago, these might have been given only passing mention.

    Can’t say that “a bridge” (presumably for motor vehicles too) over Oakley Creek at Alford Street is my favourite. It would immediately sever (if only visually) one of the central parts of the Oakley Creek area, and also be chocker-full of cars that do not want to go the longer route along the north or south.

  6. Andrew says:

    As much as I’d love a Stoddard Rd station (it would become my local station), I can’t see the point of a stub line to Hillsborough in its present state - the trip around to town would be too indirect - and therefore too long, and there would be no sizeable centres along this line to warrant a rail line and terminus, unlike Onehunga.

    I think it’d need some extra town centres (mixed residential and commercial, high density) zoned in around stations to be successful in the long term.

    And to have sufficient capacity at the city end and because going via Newmarket would take too long, I’d say it’d need the CBD loop also open to succeed.

    Good to see they’re futureproofing things so it’ll work, getting all the building blocks in place, so to speak!

  7. ingolfson says:

    What about a Western line service from out west TO a stub ending at Hillsborough? Any chance of attracting patronage there?

  8. Matt L says:

    Andrew - But would it really take longer, The location they are talking about is less than 2km from the western line. By comparison New Lynn is about 3km from this same junction and trains have to travel uphill to get there. An all stops train is scheduled to take 32 minutes from New Lynn to Britomart including the stop at Newmarket so that is a good time to base it on.

    By comparison a MAXX states a bus trip 789 Sandringham Rd (which is closer to town) is scheduled to take around 40 minutes

    The big problem would be the capacity on the Western line and at Britomart as it may effect 10 min frequencies.

  9. DanC says:

    As mentioned above I think it would be a superb idea as it can be rolled out in stations. The first Stoddard Road, 2nd May Rd or Dominion Rd and so on… With further investment in rail and a growing patronage it can only be good thing. If I could have my choice of the order of projects it would be. Avondale-Southdown line, CBD tunnel, Airport, North shore, Botany. (the last two huge $’s) Has any talk been on just building a rail tunnel from the North Shore? Does it make a huge difference in cost vs gain ratio?

  10. jarbury says:

    Until we build the CBD rail tunnel we cannot increase rail frequencies beyond 10 minutes on the three main lines. That level will be reached by the end of this year.

    So it’s pretty pointless looking at any further expansions to the rail network until we build the CBD rail tunnel. Britomart just doesn’t have the available capacity.

  11. Jon C says:

    Yeah I didnt mean the Western.

  12. Jeremy Harris says:

    I just thought the SAL was a designation, I didn’t know they had gone as far as iding station locations…

    Does anyone have a link to a map of the stations..? Rail fans I’m looking at you…

  13. Matt L says:

    Jeremy - I don’t know if any stations have been officially planned but looking at a map I think there are three logical locatons, the site mentioned here at Stoddard Rd, at Dominion Rd and at Hillsborough Rd. All locations are about 1.8km apart and at the intersections of main roads so lots of possibilities for interchanges etc.

  14. ingolfson says:

    The Stoddard Road station in the general vicinity that it is being discussed now has cropped up in earlier reports.

    “Planning for Rapid Transit Corridors in South West Auckland Metropolitan Region – BECA / Parsons Brinckerhoff, 2008″

    http://www.arta.co.nz/assets/arta%20publications/2008/Planning%20for%20rapid%20transport%20corridors%20in%20sw%20auckland.pdf

    See Figure 3, and text.

 

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