Additional Waitemata Harbour Crossing

Flow had significant involvement in the study undertaken in 2010 for the New Zealand Transport Agency in partnership with KiwiRail, to investigate options for an additional Waitemata Harbour Crossing.  The key question of this study was the business case for either a bridge or tunnel between the Central Motorway Junction and Esmonde Road.
 
Flow was awarded the transportation modelling contract, as part of a team led by Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM).  SKM were primarily responsible for the regional transport modelling and the economic analysis, with Flow primarily responsible for the more detailed traffic modelling.

Flow was subsequently commissioned to undertake two components of the Network Plan:

• The assessment of the effects of an additional crossing on the operation of the local road network, on either side of the harbour
• The assessment of the walking and cycle issues, both in terms of the provision of facilities across the harbour and the connections required to the walking and cycle networks on either side of the harbour.

Our reports are available at http://awhc.nzta.govt.nz       

The reports were released for public comment in March 2011.  Transport Minister Mr Stephen Joyce said that the government had not formed a view on whether a tunnel or a bridge is most appropriate, commenting that both the form of an additional crossing and the timing of it will be part of the discussion around Auckland’s spatial plan.

Note:

The evaluation study was commissioned under three separate contracts: Engineering and Planning – Awarded to Beca and AECOM  Transportation Modelling – Awarded to Sinclair Knight Merz and Flow Transportation Specialists  Economic Justification – Awarded to PricewaterhouseCoopers and the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) The Network Plan was undertaken by a number of consultants, with Parsons Brinckerhoff responsible for the overall Plan