Central Connector, Auckland
Encyclopedia
Bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...
link (mooted as a potential future light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
route) between Britomart Transport Centre
Britomart Transport Centre
Britomart Transport Centre is the CBD public transport hub of Auckland, New Zealand, and the northern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk line. It combines a bus interchange with a railway station in a former Edwardian post office, extended with expansive post-modernist architectural elements...
in the Auckland CBD
Auckland CBD
The Auckland CBD is the geographical and economic heart of the Auckland metropolitan area. Bounded by several major motorways and by the harbour coastline in the north, it is surrounded further out by mostly suburban areas...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and the commercial suburb of Newmarket. It is to improve journey times by about 14 minutes for around to 2,600 buses per week, about 65,000 passengers daily. Work began in April 2008 and is now finished.
In November 2007 John Banks
John Banks (New Zealand)
John Archibald Banks, CNZM QSO is a New Zealand politician. He served as Mayor of Auckland City for two terms, from 2001 to 2004, and from 2007 to 2010...
, the Mayor of Auckland
Mayor of Auckland
The Mayor of Auckland is the directly elected head of the Auckland Council, the local government authority for the Auckland region in New Zealand...
, ordered a review of the project as part of his promised crackdown on rate increases. It was decided to go forward with the project, in part due to it being expected to cost Auckland City (according to late 2007 estimates) only NZ$8.5 million, with Land Transport New Zealand
Land Transport New Zealand
Land Transport New Zealand was a Crown entity in New Zealand, tasked with promoting safe and functional transport by land, and includes responsibilities such as driver and vehicle licensing...
paying $20.5 million in addition to Auckland Regional Transport Authority's $13.7 million share. Banks' first Council, before its 2004 defeat by Dick Hubbard
Dick Hubbard
Richard "Dick" John Hubbard ONZM, DSc is a New Zealand businessman and politician, founder and principal of Hubbards Foods in Auckland, and Mayor of Auckland City from 2004 to 2007. His management of Hubbard Foods gained some prominence for its participation in and promotion of socially...
, had also first mooted the project to replace the tramway that was planned under Christine Fletcher's council but cancelled under Banks.
Characteristics
The route runs from Britomart via Symonds Street to Karangahape RoadKarangahape Road
Karangahape Road is one of the main streets in the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand. The massive expansion of motorways through the nearby inner city area - and subsequent flight of residents and retail into the suburbs - turned it from one of Auckland's premier shopping streets...
then over Grafton Bridge
Grafton Bridge
Grafton Bridge is a road bridge spanning Grafton Gully in Auckland City, New Zealand. Built of reinforced concrete in 1910, it connects the Auckland CBD with the Grafton suburb...
to Khyber Pass Road in Newmarket. It passes through Auckland University campus and by Auckland City Hospital
Auckland City Hospital
The Auckland City Hospital is Auckland's main hospital and the largest hospital in New Zealand, as well as one of the oldest medical facilities of the country. It is a publicly funded hospital, run by the Auckland District Health Board since 2001...
and the Auckland Domain
Auckland Domain
The Auckland Domain is Auckland's oldest park, and at 75 hectares one of the largest in the city. Located in the central suburb of Grafton, the park contains all of the explosion crater and most of the surrounding tuff ring of the Pukekawa volcano....
, all important public transport destinations.
The project closes Grafton Bridge
Grafton Bridge
Grafton Bridge is a road bridge spanning Grafton Gully in Auckland City, New Zealand. Built of reinforced concrete in 1910, it connects the Auckland CBD with the Grafton suburb...
to private vehicle traffic during the day, creating a bus lane 7am-7pm. This part of the project was reviewed after protests by Councillor Ken Baguely. However, part-funding for the project by ARTA was contingent on these operating hours, and Council eventually accepted that keeping the bus lane option was preferable.
Most of the streets en route received substantial overhauls, with, for example, relaid footpath
Sidewalk
A sidewalk, or pavement, footpath, footway, and sometimes platform, is a path along the side of a road. A sidewalk may accommodate moderate changes in grade and is normally separated from the vehicular section by a curb...
s. Ten pedestrian crossing
Pedestrian crossing
A pedestrian crossing or crosswalk is a designated point on a road at which some means are employed to assist pedestrians wishing to cross. They are designed to keep pedestrians together where they can be seen by motorists, and where they can cross most safely across the flow of vehicular traffic...
s were to be improved and enlarged, especially around the university. The changes include the closure of Alfred Street, a side street off Symonds Street bisecting the university campus in that area, to all traffic except Link and City Circuit buses from the end of 2006, and new canopies over footpaths in the university areas.
External links
- Central Connector (project webpage from Auckland City CouncilAuckland City CouncilAuckland City Council was the local government authority representing Auckland City, New Zealand, and was amalgamated into the Auckland Council on 1 November 2010. It was an elected body representing the 404,658 residents of the city...
)