IN THE MATTER The Resource Management Act 1991

AND

IN THE MATTER of a Notice of Requirement by the New Zealand Transport

Agency for the East West Link Project.

SUBMITTER Kiwi Property Group Ltd

STATEMENT OF EVIDENCE OF John Douglas Parlane

ON BEHALF OF Kiwi Property Group Limited (Kiwi)

22 May 2017

2

Parlane

Introduction

1. My name is John Douglas Parlane. I am a traffic engineer and principal of Parlane &

Associates Limited.

2. I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering and Certificates of Proficiency (Masters

Level) in Traffic Engineering, Transportation Planning, and Environmental Law from the

University of Auckland. I hold a Bachelor of Applied Economics from Massey University.

I am a member of the Institution of Professional Engineers, New Zealand (MIPENZ). For

the last twenty nine years I have worked as a specialist Traffic Engineer and

transportation Planner, first as a staff member of Auckland City Council and then North

Shore City Council and then in private practice both in London and Auckland.

3. I have been involved in the transport planning for new infrastructure and in providing

access to developments on busy roads for most of my career.

4. I have read and agree to comply with the Environment Court’s Code of Conduct for

expert witnesses outlined in the Environment Court’s Practice Note 2014. I have

complied with this practice note in preparing this statement of evidence. I also confirm

that my evidence is within my area of expertise except where I state that I am relying on

what I am being told by another person. I also confirm that I have not omitted to consider

material facts known to me that might alter or detract from my expressed opinions.

5. I am presenting this evidence on behalf of Kiwi with respect to the effect of this proposal

on their properties at Mt Wellington Highway.

Executive summary

6. Auckland has a long history of multiple agencies responsible for different parts of the

transportation network. That has not changed with amalgamation of Auckland local

government. NZTA and AT are responsible for different parts of the network, even

though effects of projects the responsibility of one agency may be experienced on roads

that are the responsibility of the other agency. My concern is that the East West Link is

such a project, and certain effects of NZTA’s East West Link project will be experienced

on the local road network surrounding Sylvia Park, which are roads within AT’s control.

7. Roading improvement works have been suggested in the past which could serve to

mitigate some of these effects of the East West Link on the local road network. These

include:

3

Parlane

a. Widening of Mt Wellington Highway to provide more capacity;

b. Grade separation of the South Eastern Arterial / Carbine Road intersection;

and

c. Provision of a “loop road” from Carbine Road, to provide additional access to

the Sylvia Park Train Station, to encourage greater use of this public transport

service.

8. These improvement works previously formed part of the AMETI project, but have been

omitted as part of the Auckland Transport Alignment Project process. There is a

suggestion that “Improved access to East Tamaki” will be investigated, but there is

nothing to suggest that will take the form of grade separation described in (b) above.

9. Modelling undertaken by Beca to support the East West Link project suggests that there

will be significant increases in traffic on Mt Wellington Highway whether or not the project

is undertaken. However, no specific mitigation is proposed to address those effects.

10. The modelling also indicates that there will be significant increases in traffic on SEART.

However, it shows no adverse impacts in terms of additional traffic flows diverting onto

local roads such as Carbine Road and Clemow Drive, in order to access the new East

West Link.

11. In my view, modelled flows on Mt Wellington Highway must be treated as the lower

bound of what will occur, and there is a good chance that there will be increases in traffic

on other local roads including Carbine Road and Clemow Drive.

12. In my opinion, limitations in modelling techniques mean they are ill-equipped to identify

these effects. The model includes roads around the proposed project, but relies on

external inputs for traffic entering the model at its edges. These inputs at the edge of the

model, including Mt Wellington Highway, do not respond well to changes in the centre of

the model. In my opinion there is a good chance that traffic will re-route onto Mt

Wellington Highway, Carbine Road and Clemow Drive in order to access the new East

West Link project, when congestion and queueing is being experienced at the SEART

onramps to the motorway and in Penrose and Onehunga along Neilson Street.

13. In my opinion, there are improvement works that could be undertaken that would assist

with mitigating the potential for these effects, which include:

a. Widening of Mt Wellington Highway;

4

Parlane

b. Grade separation of Carbine Road / SEART intersection;

c. Construction of “Loop Road” from Carbine Road to Sylvia Park Train Station;

and

d. Enabling private vehicle traffic on proposed “Link Road” to be constructed by

AT from Sylvia Park Road / Mt Wellington Highway intersection, under the

motorway and into Sylvia Park.

14. Unfortunately these works cannot be undertaken by NZTA, as they involve roads that are

the responsibility of Auckland Transport. Kiwi has sought to enter an agreement with

NZTA, Auckland Council and AT to identify a means of addressing these effects if they

occur. Unfortunately, I understand that AT has been unwilling to engage in that process.

For that reason, in my view, the Board should impose conditions on NZTA to require

monitoring of these roads before and after construction of the East West Link, and to

require it to engage with the relevant agencies in the event that adverse effects are

experience to formulate means of mitigating those effects.

Background

15. I have reviewed the Notices of Requirement, various plans and the accompanying

technical reports. I have visited and inspected the site owned by Kiwi numerous times

going back to 2002 when I was involved in assessing effects of the then proposed Sylvia

Park Shopping Centre. Since 2009 I have been assisting Kiwi with traffic and

transportation planning for extensions of the Sylvia Park Centre. I have also been

advising Kiwi on potential effects of the Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative

(AMETI) project that was promoted by Auckland City and is now being promoted by

Auckland Transport. AMETI is a project to improve transport to and from the wider

south-eastern suburbs area and is the successor to the earlier Eastern Transport

Corridor project which itself was a successor to the old Eastern Motorway proposal

which was the Mt Wellington to Hobson Bay section of the even earlier South Eastern

motorway proposal.

Transport Planning Issues.

16. Transportation planning in Auckland has always suffered from having too many road

controlling authorities and too little money. Local government amalgamation has

reduced the number of territorial authorities to one, but it has also given us Auckland

Transport who are a separate entity from the Council. None of the amalgamation has

5

Parlane

addressed the underlying issue of the division of responsibilities between the central

government transport planners (now NZTA) and local or regional planners. That has

always been a problem, although it is not an insurmountable one.

17. Figure 1 below shows a diagram of planned motorway links from a 1973 National Roads

Board planning brochure. This is relevant as it shows the origins of the East West Link

as a very small part of an overall network intended to provide regional connectivity. The

plan at that time was a full motorway standard road from an interchange on the northern

side of the Mangere Bridge connecting to the Southern Motorway at Panama Road.

Most importantly it continued on to a full connection with Waipuna Bridge and onwards to

the Port at the bottom of Parnell. The South Eastern Motorway would have provided a

true East West Link had it been built.

6

Parlane

Figure 1 – Proposed Motorways 19731

1 Auckland Motorways, Information Leaflet No. 6, National Roads Board, A R Shearer Government Printer March 1973, page 3.

7

Parlane

18. The very next page of the same 1973 Brochure gives a good hint as to why the link was

not built. In Figure 2 I have shown diagram of the full regional motorway system which

assigned responsibility between the National Roads Board, which was a central

government agency, and the Auckland Regional Authority. From that figure we can see

that all of the National Roads Board motorways have now been built, with the exception

of the Dominion Road Route which was abandoned as a project. In contrast only the

Waipuna Bridge was built by the Auckland Regional Authority out of all the motorway

projects that are shown in Figure 2 as their responsibility.

19. Since that time, successors to the National Roads Board have built or are building some

of these routes, shown as hollow circles on Figure 2, such as the Mt Roskill to Waterview

connection and the SH20 connection to the Airport, as well as other motorways not

shown on the map such as the SH18 Westgate to Albany Highway motorway and the

Orewa to Puhoi Link.

20. In contrast, since that time regional transport planning in the Mt Wellington area has

mostly consisted of the regional planners resiling from earlier plans. The only project of

note in the area was the extension of the Waipuna Link to the Southern Motorway by the

former Auckland City which they called the South Eastern Arterial (SEART).

8

Parlane

Figure 2- Constructed and Planned Motorways2

2 Ibid Page 4.

9

Parlane

21. The Auckland City Council did propose the AMETI project as a replacement for the

South Eastern Motorway from Mt Wellington to Parnell. AMETI included widening of the

Mt Wellington Highway and grade separation of the intersection at Carbine Road with the

SEART. These parts of the project would have provided some modest improvements in

accessibility of the area but did involve some land take from Sylvia Park. I understand

that Kiwi, in particular, relied upon these modest improvements forming part of the

broader AMETI project, and dealing with local accessibility concerns. I also understand

that Kiwi were not supportive of additional widening of Mt Wellington Highway that was

proposed simply to create landscaping within the road.

22. Figure 3 below shows some of the main components of the AMETI project as it was in

2010. Not shown on that figure is a loop road that was also proposed from Carbine

Road to the Sylvia Park railway station that would have provided improved access to the

rail for pedestrians, for cyclists and for people being dropped off by car.

Figure 3 - AMETI Project in 2010 Showing Works on Mt Wellington Highway and at Carbine

Road.3

3 Ameti Open Day Boards, Auckland Transport, December 2010

10

Parlane

23. My understanding of the current status of these works near Sylvia Park is that when the

planning for the East West Link started, Auckland Transport decided to drop these works

out of AMETI altogether. The current strategic position that has been adopted by Central

Government and AT is set out in the Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP)

which simply states a second decade commitment to “Improve connection between East

West Link and East Tamaki”4 My understanding of the ATAP report is that they have

attempted to set out how works could be implemented over a 30 year timeframe and so

projects are allocated to the first, second or third decade. However, there does not

appear to be a specific start date for these decades and therefore there is no specific

completion date for the works.

24. Figure 4 shows how following ATAP, the AMETI project has shrunk to being a busway

between Panmure and Pakuranga, two small sections of road, and a vague commitment

to improve access to East Tamaki. That final item may not necessarily have any

benefits to the Mt Wellington or Sylvia Park area at all. It is to be subject of a future

business case assessment which may determine that connections take place much

further south, connecting to say, Highbrook.

25. What is clear from the ATAP diagram is that there is now not likely to be any future

provision of a road that would connect the East West Link to the north or to the Waipuna

Bridge in the East. Forty five years ago the intention was that the East West Link would

connect to those areas. Even seven years ago the AMETI project included some

improvements to allow more people to use Mt Wellington Highway and the Waipuna

Bridge.

26. My concerns are that the East West Link in its current form is likely to provide a cross

town route for traffic that is not currently using the roads surrounding Sylvia Park.

Currently if someone wants to drive between the Eastern suburbs and Onehunga or the

areas further west then they would probably use the Waipuna Bridge and SEART and

then drive through Penrose. But once the East West Link is built it may become

preferable for drivers to avoid the congestion in Penrose and on current streets into

Onehunga by diverting onto the East West Link. That would require them to either use

Mt Wellington Highway and Waipuna Road or alternatively to use Carbine Road and

Clemow Drive. In either case that would result in additional traffic on congested roads

around Sylvia Park. That would not be a problem if either AT or the NZTA had any plans

4 Auckland Transport Alignment Project, Recommended Strategic Approach, September 2016, page 35, http://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Land/Documents/ATAP-Recommended-Strategic-Approach.pdf

11

Parlane

to increase the carrying capacity of these roads (such as the plans that they have had in

the past). Unfortunately they no longer intend to do any of these works.

Figure 4 – ATAP Major Projects by Decade5 (green box added to highlight EWL and AMETI)

5 Auckland Transport Alignment Project, Recommended Strategic Approach September 2016, NZTA and Auckland Council, Page 36

12

Parlane

27. I have a particular concern about the current capacity issues at the Mt Wellington

motorway interchange where the motorway on and off ramps join with Mt Wellington

Highway at a complex signalised intersection. That intersection in my view is already

operating at capacity during peak periods and there are significant queues in all

directions even at weekends. Because this interchange is at capacity at busier times of

the day, adding more traffic will simply result in longer queues, longer delays and result

in extending the peak traffic period. My advice to the Board is that is a significant

adverse effect that requires mitigation. To date no mitigation had been proposed by the

Requiring Authority.

Direct Impacts of the East West Link on Kiwi’s Properties

28. Modelling work carried out for the NZTA by their consultant Beca has been used as the

basis of detailed assessments of effects. NZTA staff and Beca staff have been very

helpful in providing model results so that I can understand how their modelled results

would impact on Sylvia Park. Unfortunately, the East West Link model does not include

all of the roads around Sylvia Park as it was developed to assess the use of the East

West Link rather than to examine traffic effects on a much wider network. For example,

Mt Wellington Highway is only included in the model south of SEART where it terminates

as an external link in the model. The reality is that Mt Wellington Highway is a very busy

primary arterial road all the way north to Panmure. In Figure 5 I have included a map of

the roads around Sylvia Park showing roads that I understand are included in the Beca

model.

13

Parlane

Figure 5 – Model Network in the area of Sylvia Park (note Mt Wellington Highway is not

modelled north of SEART)

29. Because Mt Wellington Highway is an external link in the transport model, the modelled

traffic flows on Mt Wellington Highway will not necessarily be very responsive to changes

in traffic conditions or changes in the central part of the model. External links are the

outermost links in a traffic model and the flows on these links are actually a model input

by the analyst, not an output.

30. My understanding of the model is that in this case these external flow inputs can only

change as a result of overall changes that occur when the travel demands are windowed

from a bigger regional model. In essence because Mt Wellington Highway near Sylvia

Park is an external link in the EWL model, then that model will not be able to reassign

any traffic that currently uses an alternative route such as SEART and Church Street or

Neilson Street to Mt Wellington Highway and the East West Link. Any reassignment

shown in the modelling results can only occur before the traffic data is input to the EWL

model either by windowing from the larger Regional Model or through a manual

adjustment by the analysts. The problem with this approach is that the Regional model

does not do a very good job of predicting delay at busy intersections such as those on

Church Street or Neilson Street. The EWL model can model intersection delays, but as

discussed above it cannot reassign traffic to or from an external link. What this means is

14

Parlane

that we need to view modelled traffic flows on Mt Wellington Highway as a lower bound

rather than as a definitive estimate. This is because the reassignment of traffic to Mt

Wellington Highway is an off-model effect.

31. I have included in Attachment 1 three plots that I received from Mr Murray at Beca

showing modelled flows with and without the East West Link and the modelled flow

differences.

32. The model suggests that in 2026 Mt Wellington Highway will carry 23,060 vehicles per

day northbound and 30,780 vehicles per day southbound without the EWL in place. In

Table 1 below I have compared these flows with measured traffic counts from 2016.

Road Direction 2016 Count 2026 Beca

Model

Difference

Mt

Wellington

Highway

Northbound 22,330 23,060 730 3.3%

Southbound 24,150 30,780 6,630 27.5%

Bothways 46,480 53,840 7,360 15.8%

SEART Eastbound 27,100 34,490 7,390 27.3%

Westbound 24,850 33,920 9,070 36.5%

Bothways 51,950 68,410 16,460 31.7%

Table 1 – Daily Traffic Flows Comparison

33. This shows that the model predicts more traffic on Mt Wellington Highway in 2026 even

without the East West Link. Neither AT nor NZTA appear to have any current or future

plans to improve Mt Wellington Highway to cater for that increase. I note that the

increases in traffic expected on SEART are significantly higher than the increases on Mt

Wellington Highway. As I discussed earlier this might be the result of the Regional

model used as an input to the EWL model. The very large increase in traffic westbound

on SEART is particularly difficult to understand given that most of this traffic joins the

Southern Motorway on a very heavily congested onramp where delays occur through

extended parts of the day.

34. In Figure 6 below I have included the Beca flow difference plot to show the expected

impact of the East West Link on Sylvia Park. I have added blue annotations to show

where Sylvia Park is on the plot. SEART passes over Sylvia Park on a series of bridges.

15

Parlane

Figure 6 – East West Link Modelled Flow Changes (increases in red, decreases in green)

The main changes shown on roads around Sylvia Park are shown in Table 2 below.

2026 Without

East West Link

2026 With

East West Link

Difference

Mt Wellington

Highway

Northbound 23,060 24,340 1,280 5.6%

Southbound 30,780 34,040 3,260 10.6%

Bothways 53,840 58,380 4,540 8.4%

Carbine Road Northbound 10,770 9,580 -1,190 -11.0%

Southbound 10,430 10,020 -410 -3.9%

Bothways 21,200 19,600 -1,600 -7.5%

Clemow Drive Eastbound 7,860 7,770 -90 -1.1%

Westbound 9,180 9,760 580 6.3%

16

Parlane

Bothways 17,040 17,530 490 2.9%

SEART Eastbound 34,490 33,700 -790 -2.3%

Westbound 33,920 34,870 950 2.8%

Bothways 68,410 68,570 160 0.2%

Table 2- Modelled Changes in Daily Traffic Flow in 2026

35. The most significant change being predicted in the area is an increase in traffic

southbound on Mt Wellington Highway directly past the three main entrances to Sylvia

Park. Currently this section of road is carrying 24,150 vehicles per day. The model

suggests that will be closer to 30,780 vehicles per day in 2026 without the East West

Link. Finally, the model suggests that flow will increase to 34,040 vehicles per day as a

direct result of the East West Link. That is an increase of 3,260 vehicles per day in 2026

and an increase of 9,890 vehicles over the existing traffic count. No mitigation is

proposed to deal with that level of traffic increase. Given that there are queues in all

directions that do not clear during the current evening peak hour already I doubt that

there is capacity on Mt Wellington Highway and at the motorway interchange to deal with

those predicted levels of traffic.

36. To illustrate the problem I have included an aerial photo in Figure 7 of Mt Wellington

Highway showing how over a distance of 890 metres there are actually 6 sets of traffic

lights.

17

Parlane

Figure 7 Mt Wellington Highway

37. Having very closely spaced traffic signals makes Mt Wellington Highway a very sensitive

traffic environment. The critical bottleneck in this system is the two sets of signals that

control the onramps and offramps to the motorway. Queues commonly extend through

the interchange as vehicles queue to turn onto the onramps. These queues then cause

issues for traffic trying to travel along Mt Wellington Highway or exit the motorway.

38. Examination of the predicted flow changes shows there will be a net increase in traffic

passing under the motorway and an overall increase in traffic using the signals on the

northern side of the interchange. The only significant improvement at the interchange is

a reduction in traffic using the northbound offramp that currently turns left towards Sylvia

Park Road at a free left turn. The two sets of traffic signals are likely to experience

18

Parlane

increased traffic levels as a result of the East West Link. That means higher traffic

delays and longer queues with the potential to have upstream and downstream effects

on the other traffic signals along the road.

39. No improvements have been put forward by NZTA to mitigate traffic effects at any of

these intersections. As the ATAP documents show no major upgrade projects are now

planned by AT.

40. In my view, something should be done to ease the level of congestion on Mt Wellington

Highway. Arguably this should occur whether or not the East West Link goes ahead,

given the increase already predicted for 2026. One small means to mitigate the

predicted increase in congestion on Mt Wellington Highway, which Kiwi is already

discussing with AT, is allowing private vehicle access on a proposed Link Road from Mt

Wellington Highway south of the Southern Motorway onramps, under the motorway and

into Sylvia Park. In my view, this is an obvious mitigation measure, as it will remove

some traffic that would otherwise be adding to congestion on Mt Wellington Highway

between that point and the access points to Sylvia Park located north of the Southern

Motorway onramps. I discuss this proposal in the next section of my statement.

41. The model results show only minor changes on other roads around Sylvia Park that

might impact on the operation of the shopping centre. However, the model shows quite

significant increases in westbound traffic on SEART which passes over the top of Sylvia

Park. The 2026 model suggests traffic of 33,920 vehicles per day or 9,070 more

vehicles per day than currently travel that way. The East West Link then adds a further

950 vehicles per day giving a final traffic flow of 34,870 vehicles per day. That is 10,020

vehicles per day more than currently travel that way. In my opinion, there is a real risk

that that will simply prove to be more traffic than SEART and the roads it leads into can

cope with. If that occurs there is the very real possibility that some drivers will choose to

turn off SEART at Carbine Road and use Clemow Drive as an alternative route to the

West rather than queue on SEART and drive through congested roads in Penrose. If

that occurs it would have a significant effect on access to Sylvia Park. As with Mt

Wellington Highway there does not appear to be any plan by either NZTA or AT to deal

with the expected traffic growth or to mitigate potential traffic effects. As I discussed

earlier it is quite possible the East West Link model is overestimating the level of traffic

that will occur on SEART and overestimating the ability of the roads that SEART feeds to

receive additional traffic.

42. In my opinion, further widening of Mt Wellington Highway and grade separation of

Carbine Road / SEART intersection could assist with managing those potential effects.

19

Parlane

As noted above, these were originally part of the AMETI package of proposals, but

appear to have been omitted after consideration as part of the ATAP process. In my

opinion these improvements could assist with mitigation of effects of the East West Link

project. However, I understand these are matters that cannot be delivered by NZTA, as

they fall within the purview of AT. I also understand that Kiwi has been pursuing these

matters through a joint approach with NZTA / Auckland Council / AT, but that AT has

been unwilling to engage in those discussions at this time.

43. While modelling is a useful tool to help us anticipate the effects generated by a proposal,

its reliability and usefulness is a function of the quality of information put into it; the

assumptions made within the model; and the efficacy of the model itself. Given the

timeframes available I have not been able to spend much time reviewing the model. So

while I have not been able to identify any fundamental flaws in the NZTA model output

that does not mean that once the EWL is constructed these flows will actually occur.

44. My understanding of the model is that it is a smaller scale model that includes only the

roads in the immediate vicinity of the East West Link. That means that it will be unable

to predict any fundamental changes in travel behaviour such as wider scale changes in

route choice of existing trips or the generation of entirely new trips which previously

would not have occurred. The model might be very well suited to estimating the direct

economic benefits of the East West Link, but that is not necessarily the same as being

able to show extent of adverse effects on roads near the boundary of the model. Roads

such as Mt Wellington Highway, Waipuna Road or Carbine Road.

45. During my own inspections of the roads in the area over many years now I have noted

that SEART already tends to block westbound during morning peak periods. Vehicles

travelling west along SEART towards Onehunga currently have little option but to endure

that congestion through to the Southern Motorway northbound on ramp but the EWL will

offer a speedy, straightforward link to the west provided they can transfer to it from

SEART. The Carbine Road / Clemow Drive route will represent an attractive “rat run”

between SEART and EWL, particularly during those morning peak periods when SEART

is congested between Carbine Road and the Southern Motorway. Drivers travelling east

along EWL during the evening peak may also consider it worthwhile staying on EWL until

Mt Wellington Highway and then using Clemow Drive and Carbine Road to transfer to

the SEART.

46. Because Clemow Drive and Carbine Road are located in the immediate vicinity of a

major metropolitan centre, any additional congestion on those routes will likely affect the

efficiency of the network around that centre and potentially compromise its functionality.

20

Parlane

The Unitary Plan recognises that congestion in the vicinity of centres is an inevitable

consequence of the intensification promoted for these areas. For example rule E27.6 of

the Unitary Plan specifically excludes activities in Metropolitan Centres from the

restricted discretionary consents related to trip generation. Nor does the Unitary Plan

require Integrated Transport Assessments for development in Metropolitan Centres.

Congestion related to the intensification of the centre is a symptom of the successful

operation and development of that centre and is likely to encourage modal shift to public

transport, cycling or pedestrian travel. Congestion caused by through traffic using what

are in effect local roads within or alongside those centres is a different issue, however.

Such traffic does not contribute to the functionality of the centre but instead is likely to

compromise its efficiency. It is, therefore, a potential adverse effect of the EWL.

47. If the NZTA modelling proves accurate and there is no increase in through traffic along

Carbine Road and Clemow Drive then there would be no need for any mitigation

measures to be undertaken to reduce or avoid this effect. Accordingly, there is no

rationale for requiring at this stage any specific mitigation measures to be undertaken by

NZTA on the road network to address this effect. If, however, the NZTA modelling

proves to be inaccurate and my concerns regarding potential rat running along Carbine

Road and Clemow Drive are realised, it will be important for NZTA, Auckland Transport

(as the authority responsible for those local roads), Kiwi (as the owner and operator of

the core of the Sylvia Park Metropolitan centre) and Auckland Council (as the territorial

authority with an interest in the long-term success of Sylvia Park) to collectively review

the extent and nature of any problem and to identify potential methods of mitigating the

effects (which might include relative minor roadworks, more significant work such as

grade separation of SEART at Carbine Road or measures that promote more efficient

use of public transport such as the loop road to the Sylvia Park railway station).

48. Kiwi’s advice to me is that it considers that those issues could be resolved by way of an

agreement between the parties. In the absence of such an agreement, it may be

necessary to impose conditions that require NZTA to monitor traffic conditions on the

local roads before and after the EWL is opened and, if adverse traffic effects of the EWL

are identified, to explore in conjunction with the other parties listed above means through

which those effects might be mitigated.

Mitigation Measures

49. When Kiwi built Sylvia Park one of their consent conditions required them to build the

railway station. They have also built bus stops within the site that are currently used by

through services. However, AT intend to change their bus services as part of their New

21

Parlane

Network project next year. At that time bus services will start and finish at Sylvia Park

and the site will become a major public transport interchange point where passengers on

local bus services will transfer to rail and vice versa. Good bus access to the site will

become essential if this interchange plan is to succeed.

50. In his statement Mr Theunis van Schalkwyk, the Group Manager of Strategic Projects at

Auckland Transport has detailed their proposal to create a new link road from Mt

Wellington Highway into Sylvia Park for use as a bus route. A new bus station would be

built under SEART close to the railway station. I have been advising Kiwi on the

potential benefits and consequences of this project.

51. In the last two pages on Mr van Schalkwyk’s evidence he has included plans of the new

link under the motorway which I have combined and reproduced in Figure 8.

22

Parlane

Figure 8 – New Link Road to Sylvia Park from Mt Wellington Highway.6

52. This proposed new link road would join Mt Wellington Highway at the existing traffic

signals at Sylvia Park Road and would cross 350 Mt Wellington Highway and pass

beneath the Southern Motorway to a new roundabout intersection to be built within

Sylvia Park on the internal circulating road. The NZTA designation would already affect

the site at 350 Great South Road and this new road could use part of the site not

required for the East West Link.

53. In my view, not only would this new link road be ideal for providing access by buses but it

also offers tremendous possibilities if it is created to carry general traffic as well.

54. Because this new link road would pass under the motorway it has potential to take traffic

to and from southern areas such as Otahuhu directly to and from Mt Wellington Highway

without that traffic needing to travel through the two motorway interchange traffic signals.

Similarly, if the East West Link is built then any traffic that uses that route to Sylvia Park

could also avoid the busy motorway interchange.

55. However, it would also provide other traffic benefits. Currently traffic approaching Sylvia

Park on the motorway from the south must queue on the offramp and make a right turn

onto Mt Wellington Highway, pass through the traffic signals on the northern side of the

interchange, and then use one of the entrances on Mt Wellington Highway into the

shopping centre. If the new link was available this traffic would be able to turn left off the

offramp at a free left turn and make a left turn into the new road and travel directly into

the shopping centre without passing through any of the heavily loaded intersections.

Similarly, drivers wishing to leave Sylvia Park and head north on the motorway would be

able to use this new link to get to the northbound onramp without passing through the

northern part of the motorway interchange.

56. Removing even a small amount of traffic from critical movements at a congested

intersection can have a very significant beneficial effect on the operation of that

intersection for all remaining traffic.

57. An inspection of the flow difference map in Figure 6 shows that the provision of this new

link would remove traffic from road links where the East West Link would create

additional problems and add traffic to links where there are expected to be reductions in

6 Statement of Evidence of Theunis van Schalkwyk pages 11 and 12 joined as a composite image and cropped.

23

Parlane

traffic flow. My advice to the Commissioners is that this new link would be a very good

way of mitigating the effects of the East West Link not just for Kiwi but for other road

users who use the motorway interchange and Mt Wellington Highway.

Conclusions

58. The East West Link project is a small part of the road network that was once planned for

the southern part of the Auckland Isthmus. It appears that the planning for this route by

NZTA has been accompanied by Auckland Transport resiling from the earlier

improvements in the Sylvia Park and Mt Wellington area that were planned as part of the

AMETI project. Now rather than a firm commitment to grade separating the Carbine

Road intersection with SEART and the proposed widening of Mt Wellington Highway, AT

are only proposing a future study of connections to East Tamaki. These improvements

may not even involve connections anywhere near Sylvia Park.

59. The problem of developing a connected-up transport network where responsibility is

shared between central government and local government is not new in Auckland and

has clearly not been resolved by local government amalgamation. This creates a

problem for transport planning but also creates a difficulty for decision makers as the

current Notice of Requirement ignores the larger picture and focuses only on the

connection from Onehunga to the Southern motorway.

60. In terms of specific impacts on the Kiwi properties at Sylvia Park the modelling suggests

that traffic on Mt Wellington Highway will increase as a result of the East West Link. The

model predicts that an extra 4,540 vehicles per day will be added to Mt Wellington

Highway past Sylvia Park, a road that is currently already very busy. The adverse effects

generated by that traffic could be mitigated, to some extent, through the provision of an

additional link into Sylvia Park from the Sylvia Park Road / Mount Wellington Highway

intersection under the motorway.

61. The problem we face is that because the East West Link model does not include the

wider road network north of SEART we do not really know what the full extent of traffic

growth around Sylvia Park might be. In particular, there is a risk that traffic congestion in

the Penrose area might result in drivers choosing to turn off SEART at Carbine Road and

use the Carbine Road and Clemow Drive Route to take advantage of the new East West

Link when travelling to the west. That has the potential to have a significant adverse

effect on Sylvia Park as Carbine Road is currently very heavily used and congested in

the evening peak in particular.

24

Parlane

DATED at Auckland this 22nd day of May 2017

John Douglas Parlane

25

Parlane

Attachment 1 East West Model Plots from Beca

26

Parlane

27

Parlane