Subscribe to RSSHarbour Bridge Pathway Progress
Progress has been made on the plans for a pedestrian/cycleway across the Auckland Harbour Bridge with a public launch of the Pathway’s concept design happening by Mayor Len Brown on Sunday, August 21 at 3pm at Wynyard Quarter. Aucklanders will be asked for their feedback on the proposed design.
The pathway will cost $22.8m and there will be a toll. Hopper Developments has advised that the proposed toll of $2 for HOP card users (and $5 for cash/credit card/text users) over a 20 year period, will support a total construction cost of $23M.
The Pathway Working Group has worked closely with NZTA and its bridge consultants Beca, to agree upon an engineering solution for the proposed walking and cycling pathway on the Auckland Harbour Bridge. An acceptable pedestrian management system will need to be approved by NZTA to limit the number of pedestrians on the Pathway at any one time.
PWG spokesman Bevan Woodward says that from an operational health and safety perspective, probably no more than 1,000 users are wanted on the Pathway at any one time “However this allows for a conservative throughput of 5000 people per hour which is more than sufficient to make the project doable,” he says.
The number of Pathway users will be controlled by the barrier gates with a counting device and overseen by on-site security personnel and CCTV cameras. “The advantage of this system is that we are able to reduce the numbers on the Pathway should traffic loadings on the AHB significantly increase over the next 20 years. For example if the peak loading time of 3 to 4pm on weekdays was becoming a concern, then user numbers during this period could be reduced.
The proposed walk &cycle way sits under the deck of the clip-on
The proposed Pathway has been costed by quantity surveyors WT Partnership. In summary the indicative preliminary cost estimates (including contingencies) are:
Pathway and access ramps $17.4M
Bridge additional strengthening $3.8M
Design review costs $1.6M
15 Comments
any indication of where the entrance to the footbridge would be on the Shore side? Onewa Road or under the bridge at Northcote Point?
@Craig The earlier info said:
On the southern (Auckland City) side, the Pathway would connect directly to Westhaven Drive, which is part of Auckland City’s existing 501km cycling circuit, and provides access to the CBD via Westhaven and the Wynyard Quarter development.
Connection into Ponsonby would be provided by existing walking and cycling path along Curran Street or via Shelley Beach Road.
On the northern (North Shore) side, the Pathway connects to Princes Street, Northcote Point. The local street network provides access to Northcote, AUT University, Glenfield, Birkenhead, Takapuna and other North Shore suburbs and facilities.
http://www.aktnz.co.nz/2011/02/07/harbour-bridge-pathway-progress/
Fantastic, about time, and really NZTA should fund this, this is as much ‘Land transport’ as the road bridge. Another clear example of their and MoT’s institutional bias against anything without an engine and on a road.
Patrick, if they have a change of heart, they can still decide to buy out Hopper Developments in the future, and reduce the time tolled. In the meantime, the funding will in practice probably come to a large degree from tourist groups.
Great news either way, especially as some of the articles in the news hint that they HAVE found a funder willing to underwrite the loan.
Get people active and reduce the number of peak trips across the AHB, great! Now, lets discourage them a wee bit by restricting access when we think we should, AND charge them for it!
Retarded.
Still don’t get it, tax the humans using own locomotion but not the climate changing, pollution belching, fossil fuel gaging motorist? Is NZ entirely run by backward Neanterthals, or are they just all at NZTA and the MoT?
I know, I know, box ticking, form filling, blameless aparatchiks all…. twonks
Patrick R. The pollution belching motorists are paying tax.
Someone has to pay for this. Money does not come from trees. Sounds like a good idea.
Under the Deck & $23 million then $5 to cross it?
you have to be kidding.
Whinge, whinge, whinge. Two years ago, we had the NZTA saying “It won’t happen for 30 years”.
Now it looks like it is about to happen, and half the comments are still the same negativity.
Celebrate this! If it happens, it’s a win that people have fought for for over 50 years. I don’t care if it costs a toll. Motorists paid a toll for almost 25 years, so while a toll is not exactly the best option, it isn’t exactly unheard of either - and if that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes. Or do you lie in bed hoping to wake up and find Steven Joyce has had a change of heart and will fund it? CELEBRATE IT.
“Under the Deck & $23 million then $5 to cross it?”
“you have to be kidding.”
It is $2, not $5. Recommend reading the article. The $5 is for tourists, really.
And there’s no reason why the under the deck solution should be an issue - especially as they intend to have cameras and live guards on bikes on the bridge for security. It’s not like being “on the deck” would have prevented littering and tagging and potential other security concerns - the good old fashioned human approach (like it is used on many similar bridge pathways overseas) is the best method.
The launch on the 21st will show a lot of great visuals of what we will get for $23 million.
Free.
It doesn’t cost to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It doesn’t cost to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It doesn’t cost to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. It doesn’t cost to walk across the Tower Bridge. Why does it cost to walk across the Auckland Harbour Bridge?
This could be one of the best things about Auckland. It has so much public amenity, would be used by thousands and thousands, would be loved by tourists, would send joy back in to Aucklanders and make them appreciate their harbour, and would have a great range of positive outcomes.
Auckland can be one of the best cities in the world. Or it can be a second rate metropolis. Your choice (people of Auckland and your elected and unelected decision-makers).
Tbird; anyone walking or riding isn’t cluttering the bridge with their car. Congestion benefit. Not to mention not helping to cook the planet or enslaving us to oil imports or filling our hospitals with their overweight or car-crashed frames. Vast oversimplification to insist that all of the NLTF goes directly to roads or even covers their costs. Unless you’re a Tucker wanting ever more state subsidy.
Is there a car limit on this bloody bridge?
@Nigel No but there were restrictions on trucks in the clip on lanes
@George D - you are asking the wrong question. Why can you NOT walk or cycle across the bridge right now, at all?
This is a way to change the first part of the problem. The only way it will happen NOW. Or do you prefer to wait another 10 years (or 30, as Wayne MacDonald said?). Nah, I’d rather pay a toll, and then advocate for it to be abolished later.