Viewpoint – Milldale buses unfunded

You really would think that after Auckland Council declared a climate change emergency, the heart of any new town centre would be public transport but sadly this is not the case.

You only have to take a quick drive through the Milldale development to find this out. There are already 1000 houses built in Milldale and this is only the beginning. Growth in Milldale has been accelerated by the new funding model, whereby the developer, Council and Crown Infrastructure Partners fund the bulk infrastructure up front. Milldale residents then pay this back over the next 30 years. This bulk infrastructure will allow 4000 new houses to be built in Milldale and another 5000 in the surrounding future urban area.

When this new funding model was announced for Milldale, there were high fives all around Council but when the issue of no public transport was raised, Auckland Transport (AT) promised feeder buses but these are yet to eventuate. What is very disappointing is that in AT’s draft 10-year budget, public transport for Milldale is unfunded. Safe cycling or walking is not an option for Milldale residents, and the Silverdale park n ride is full by 8am. This is only going to get worse as more and more houses are built and there are few local employment options.

Unfortunately, to make matters worse, AT in its draft 10-year budget has also cut the ‘ring fenced’ funding for the widening of Dairy Flat Highway to four lanes at the bottom of Albany Hill. This 4-laneing project included the Lucas Creek bridge and traffic lights at the Avenue intersection. This has been a bottleneck for years and is completely gridlocked in the morning.

While there are pressures all over Auckland and priorities do change, I cannot understand how this project lost its funding. There is so much growth in our area from every direction. Houses are going up at pace in Albany, Riverhead, Ōrewa, Whangaparāoa and Milldale.

So, fingers crossed that AT amends its 10-year budget and funds both public transport for Milldale and the widening of Dairy Flat Highway at the Albany end.

Otherwise, if we fast-forward 10 years and with no public transport options and the main entrance of Milldale being Dairy Flat Highway, the roads will be gridlocked with traffic generating more and more carbon emissions and this will have all happened during a climate change emergency.