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Reducing the length of a footpath that was to be built along Hibiscus Coast Highway cut the cost by $500,000, which was then able to be allocated to other transport projects.
The original plan was to build a footpath from Titan Place in Silverdale along the highway to the intersection of the highway with Whangaparāoa Road.
This safe option for pedestrians is something that Silverdale residents have been seeking for years, and the project was among those that the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board hoped to progress through its Transport Capital Fund, which it receives from Auckland Transport (AT).
However, getting it across the line was difficult given deep cuts to that fund.
This term, the fund was slashed by $10m across all local boards – Hibiscus and Bays’ allocation was cut by almost half to $1,888,965.
AT says the cuts reflect the cost of flood repairs, the reduction in AT’s overall budget required by Auckland Council, inflation and rising costs.
A number of projects were in line for this funding, from the entire Hibiscus and Bays Local Board area, and the estimated cost of $1.3m could have seen the end of the highway footpath.
Member Leanne Willis says a few weeks ago she asked why the footpath had to go all the way to Titan Place.
“I then ‘stepped out’ the distance from the planned crossing at the Whangaparāoa Road/Hibiscus Coast Highway intersection to the existing footpath – and after a discussion, we managed to reduce the project to one that connected those two points at an estimated cost of $800,000,” she says. “If we hadn’t found a way to reduce the cost, it may not have happened.”
Willis says the new price of $800,000 covers a raised crossing and signs across the slip lane from Whangaparāoa Road left onto the highway, a footpath across the grass to the lights from the crossing, and a footpath from the crossing to join up with the existing one on Hibiscus Coast Highway.
She says AT may look at sourcing funding to enable the footpath to be continued up to Titan Place.
The $500,000 saving may enable other projects, including a pedestrian refuge island on Whangaparāoa Road, near Manly Fire Station, to be progressed.
One project that didn’t make the cut is turning Bakehouse Lane in Ōrewa into a one-way road, which was estimated to cost $450,000.
Willis says the cost of raised pedestrian crossings (around $375,000) has become ridiculous and she is investigating an option produced by a company that uses rubber from recycled tyres that has the potential to drastically reduce that cost.
