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Rodney Local Board is making a bid to get vital transport corridors redesignated by Auckland Transport (AT) to protect them from excessive development and make them a priority for maintenance.
The idea came from Kumeū member Geoff Upson, who said on June 19 it was important to start a discussion now to safeguard vital routes in future, including local roads that were used as a detour when state highways were blocked.
“We are seeing urban development on main, important transport corridors, which we need to think about strategically,” he said. “We wouldn’t build houses on the motorway, so we need to ask the question, at what point do we allow 10,000 houses to be built on the side of a main road?
“And when the Dome Valley is closed because of a slip, or a bus has broken down, state highway traffic is going on local roads, so I think it’s important that we give those roads that act as an alternative route a higher level of consideration for maintenance and upgrades.”
Upson said the steep, narrow Matakana Valley Road was a classic example of this.
Wellsford member Colin Smith said Upson’s proposal should be supported.
“We’ve got to get this started somewhere, because we’ve got a massive land use change in Rodney,” he said. “The quarries at Whangaripo used to be for local work, now they’re used for the whole of Auckland. You’re looking at subdivisions going in all along that road and it’s bloody dangerous.”
Mark Dennis wondered if it was a waste of time for the local board, as roading was more of a regional issue, but Upson disagreed.
“We’ve got to start at the bottom and work our way up,” he said “I’m thinking about the people who have to travel across, through, past, around Rodney – we all rely on these roads.
“We need to keep houses and transport corridors separate.”
Members voted to request that AT designate vital transport corridors in the Rodney Local Board area, or connecting with it, as Regional Strategic Roads “to provide protection for road users into the future and provide a higher level of priority for maintenance and resilience work”.
Upson’s motion also said priority should be given to transport corridors with high traffic volumes or that serve as detour routes when the state highway network is closed or congested.
Chair Brent Bailey was alone in voting against the motion.
