Category: roading

Basin Reserve Precinct Transport Plans – Latest Diagrams, Details and Technical Papers Released

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

For a long time, since the final defeat of the previous Basin Reserve flyover proposal in 2015, all we’ve had to go on are private assurances that whatever plans eventually emerged would not include a new Basin Reserve flyover. But it’s taken until the past few weeks, with the release of a slew of Let’s Get Wellington Moving reports and technical documents, to get some idea of what those plans entail.

The good news is that those private assurances have now been backed up by publicly released information. The roading changes proposed around the Basin do indeed seem to avoid bridges or flyovers – though there is an underpass proposed for walking and cycling use for those entering the ground from the north, and without careful design, underpasses can be exactly the sort of places pedestrians and cyclists don’t want to go.

LGWM Proposed Scheme around the Basin Reserve Area
October 2018 Recommended Programme of Investment Basin Reserve Concept

The redoubtable and well-informed “Leviathan” has put up an excellent and very informative post on the Eye of the Fish blog on LGWM’s plans for the Basin Reserve area, evidently drawing on the recently-released trove of LGWM documents, and including the two diagrams above plus Leviathan’s own drawings of how these might look in context:

http://eyeofthefish.org/public-transport-network/

The diagrams released by LGWM were developed in the assumption that Karo Drive undergrounding would be included in the funded package – but it wasn’t. So a current question is: what if any design changes near the Basin will result from that?

While the overall picture of Let’s Get Welly Moving with regards to the Basin is encouraging, the level of detail available to the public remains vague enough that continued vigilance is needed – just as it is to ensure that the project meets its overall goals of reducing transport emissions, reducing dependence on private cars, and promoting walking, cycling, public transport and rapid transit.

Save the Basin Campaign Inc. Position Statement 2019

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

Board of Inquiry findings must be respected and followed

  • We believe that the findings of both the Board of Inquiry into the Basin Bridge Proposal Decision in August 2014 and the High Court Appeal Decision against the Report and Decision of the Board of Inquiry into the Basin Bridge in August 2015 must be respected and adhered to.

The Basin Reserve must be preserved and protected

  • Any transport proposals around the Basin Reserve must take into account the significance of the Basin Reserve. This does not just mean the piece of land bounded by a fence. The Basin Reserve is an Historic Area registered by the Heritage New Zealand. It is a unique environmental and heritage feature, which helps define Wellington and plays an important role in collective memory and current and future recreational activities.
  • The amenities of the world-famous, historic cricket ground and community space must be protected.
  • The Reserve status of the Basin Reserve must be respected and protected.

The Basin Reserve Precinct must be preserved and protected

  • The setting of the Basin Reserve – the area surrounding it – is essential to its significance and meaning. It has a considerable number of historic heritage places of significance at a National and / or Regional level. These include The Basin Reserve, Canal Reserve, Government House, Kent and Cambridge Terrace, Home of Compassion Crèche, the National War Memorial Park, the former national museum building (now Massey University), the Police Barracks and Mount Victoria Character Area.

Transport 

  • STBC was formed to preserve and protect the historic character of the Basin Reserve area and promote high quality urban design and environmental management in it, as it was threatened by the proximity, noise and pollution of a proposed flyover which would be dedicated to vehicular traffic.
  • STBC continue to work toward these objectives by advocating for reducing vehicular traffic around the Ground.
  • While STBC’s focus is on the Basin Reserve, we generally support priority being given to public transport and improving cycle and pedestrian movement as these encourage active transport and a move away from dependence on private motor vehicles.
  • Traditional vehicular transport in western urban centres is on the point of undergoing a radical change, not least due to the need to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport. Building more ‘traditional’ roads in this rapidly changing environment is not prudent.
  • STBC believes actions such as transport demand management and light rail should be implemented and their performance measured before increased road capacity or a second Mt Victoria tunnel is built. 

Second Mt Victoria road tunnel

  • A second road tunnel will significantly increase traffic, including heavy traffic, and will therefore also increase traffic around the Basin Reserve.
  • Southern Mt Victoria is an integral part of the Basin Reserve precinct. The social, heritage and environmental qualities of the area must not be adversely affected.
  • The area includes some 4,000 children attending schools in the Precinct, and residents of southern Mt Victoria. Adverse effects would include increased noise, vibration and pollution from increased number of vehicles, particularly heavy vehicles.
  • The Mt Victoria Character Area of the southern end of Mt Victoria, including properties such as Ettrick Cottage, William Waring Taylor’s 1869 house and other Victorian and Edwardian residences, must be protected.

Therefore, the Save the Basin Campaign Inc. opposes the development of a second Mt Victoria road tunnel.

Here’s the Save the Basin Campaign Inc. Position Statement 2019 as a downloadable PDF.

 

Taking The Wheel: The Government Makes More Moves To Rebalance Transport

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

As Wellington waits for an announcement in its transport future, the Government is continuing to make moves to reshape transport in New Zealand away from over-reliance on the private car and towards a balanced system that gives as many people as possible options for getting off the roads:

While we wait to see whether the Government’s new, balanced approach will succeed in cutting Wellington’s motorway-building cabal off at the pass, why not find out how another seaside city, Vancouver, has succeeded in making its transport system work for people, not the other way around?

Submission Guide: Let’s Get Welly Moving (LGWM) Scenarios – Submissions Close 15 December 2017

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

The Short Version

Got five minutes? Read this section and submit now!

Let’s Get Welly Moving (LGWM) still wants to build a motorway flyover (which they call a bridge) at the Basin Reserve!

LGWM has released four scenarios. These scenarios are very vague, but three of the four leave open the possibility of a Basin Reserve flyover:

  • Scenario A, if adopted, would not involve a flyover at the Basin.
  • Scenarios B, C or D could see a Basin flyover being built.

Here are alternative proposals and submission guides from other transport groups:

Submit before 15 December. You don’t have to go through the whole LGWM form. You can just comment on Scenario A (Step 1, near the bottom of that page), then skip to Step 6 to fill in your details and submit the form.

Tell LGWM something like:

Scenario A may be acceptable. However, I need more detail of what Scenario A involves before I can be sure. I reject Scenarios B, C and D.

or

Scenario A+ from FIT Wellington looks very promising and improves on Scenario A. I want to see Scenario A+ developed further. I reject Scenarios B, C and D.

and then add your other comments.

The Long Version

Got more time to submit?

1. Read our full Submission Guide (Click on the file name.)

2. Submit now!

Please submit. And please encourage your friends and networks to submit, too. 

Co-Convenor’s Report to the 2016 Save the Basin Campaign Inc. AGM

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

The Save the Basin AGM was held last night, and my Co-Convenor’s report was adopted. I’m publishing it here as my summary of where things currently stand on the Basin and related issues – Tim Jones

UPDATE: NOTE FROM FRIENDS OF THE BASIN: Members of Save the Basin, Mt Cook Mobilised, Mt Victoria’s Residents Association, Newtown Residents Association, and other interested people have met to coordinate activities and share information about the development of the Basin Reserve Cricket Ground, and to work toward influencing decisions to create greater community use of the grounds and to protect its heritage. If you are interested in further information, or want to participate in this group, please contact alana.bowman@mac.com.

The Past Year

My Co-Convenor’s Reports to the 2014 and 2015 AGMs were both dominated by news of court cases – good news! In 2014, I was able to report that NZTA’s plan to build a Basin Reserve flyover had been defeated at the Basin Bridge Board of Inquiry. In 2015, I reported that NZTA’s appeal of that decision had been defeated at the High Court. In both cases, Save the Basin Inc. was one of the groups that played a big part in getting the right decision.

As I said in 2015, this was a major victory for the four groups that appeared to oppose NZTA’s appeal: The Architectural Centre, Mt Victoria Historical Society, and Mount Victoria Residents Association and Save the Basin Campaign Inc. – and a most welcome vindication for the Board of Inquiry’s patient, thorough and decisive analysis and decision.

Another year on, there is no big legal battle to report on, since NZTA chose not to pursue their vision of a flyover all the way to the Supreme Court – but while the issue has had a lower profile over the past year, plenty’s being going on behind the scenes.

In the wake of the High Court decision, two new official processes were set up: Let’s Get Welly Moving and the Basin Reserve Redevelopment Project. Let’s Get Welly Moving is a joint project between NZTA, Wellington City Council and Greater Wellington to reconsider transport options and projects around Wellington – not just at the Basin, and not even just along State Highway 1. And the Basin Reserve Redevelopment Project is Wellington City Council’s project to revamp the Basin itself, both as a cricket and as a recreation ground. The decision on the future of the Museum Stand is separate from but related to this project.

Save the Basin has met with senior staff from both projects, multiple times in the case of Let’s Get Welly Moving. Unfortunately, both projects have been bedevilled by staff turnover in key positions, including the original Project Directors of each project taking up other positions and having to be replaced. This has slowed the momentum of each project, and we are concerned that, so far, there appears to have been little communication between the two projects or their personnel.

Let’s Get Welly Moving has been carrying out extensive public engagement, and conducting research to inform its decision-making. It’s also been developing a suite of transport modelling tools designed to better capture the reality of a modern multi-modal transport system. Its original schedule has been pushed out a little, and it is now meant to come up with a range of scenarios for Wellington transport – not limited to the Basin, and not limited only to building infrastructure – by around March 2017. At this stage, with alternative options going on the table, I expect the Basin debate will sharpen once again, and Save the Basin’s voice may need to be strongly heard.

The Basin Reserve Redevelopment Project has also held public consultations, which Save the Basin contributed to, and the Council’s decision on the fate of the Museum Stand is expected in 2017.

The 2016 local body elections

Had the outcome been different, the 2016 local body elections could have partially or completely derailed the processes discussed above. Of the three leading Mayoral candidates, both Nick Leggett and Jo Coughlan wanted “four lanes to the planes”. Nick Leggett was an unrepentant supporter of building a Basin Reserve flyover, while Jo Coughlan proposed to short-circuit the LGWM process entirely by grabbing hold of a supposed billion dollars’ worth of Government funding and making a decision about the future of the Basin by Christmas 2016.

Neither prevailed. Justin Lester, who won convincingly, was a consistent opponent of a Basin Reserve flyover while he served as Celia Wade-Brown’s Deputy Mayor, and he now leads a Council which, in my opinion, has moved slightly further away from the views of the cars-above-all-else lobby. Similarly, while we were disappointed to lose such strong advocates of sustainable transport from the Regional Council as Paul Bruce and Nigel Wilson, and it was a disappointment that supportive candidates such as Russell Tregonning did not make it onto that Council, the signs are cautiously positive for more modern, sustainable, and forward-thinking transport policy in the Wellington region – though much still depends on the Government’s attitude.

The transport portfolios as the City Council have gone to Chris Calvi-Freeman and Sarah Free, while Paul Swain will no longer be leading the transport portfolio for the Regional Council. I’m hopeful that these changes will mean a greater openness to the notion that transport in a modern capital city is about more than moving more cars more quickly.

One other issue on which Save the Basin has submitted is the proposed extension of Wellington Airport’s runway, which is currently the subject of a resource consent application. As a group, our primary concern here is construction traffic. The airport company has asked for consent to run 23-metre long heavy trucks day and night, from 9.30am-2.30pm and 10pm-6am, along State Highway 1 for 3-4 years (and possibly up to 10 years) to transport up to 1.5 million cubic metres of fill between Horokiwi and Kiwi Point quarries and the airport. The planned route goes around the Basin Reserve and through the Mt Victoria tunnel – and the airport company is projecting up to 620 of those heavy truck movements a day, at a frequency of up to one heavy truck movement per minute. We consider this would have a serious impact on residents along the route, on the safety and comfort of other road users and pedestrians, on the transport network, and on the environs of the Basin Reserve.

Conclusion and thanks

While 2016 has been a relatively quiet year in comparison to the previous two, that may well not be the case in 2017. Therefore, it’s important for Save the Basin to remain active, both to advocate for the future of the Basin Reserve as a cricket and recreation ground and public facility, and to maintain our standing in terms of future decision-making processes, and any legal processes that may arise from those. I’d like to thank Treasurer Ross Teppett and committee members Kate Zwartz, Judith Graykowski, Alana Bowman and Pauline Swann for their hard work and support, and to all our supporters who have stuck with us and continue to work for a better future both for the Basin Reserve, and for Wellington’s transport system.

Tim Jones
Co-Convenor
Save the Basin Campaign Incorporated

European Cyclists’ Federation Supports Save The Basin

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

It isn’t just Wellingtonians, or even New Zealanders, who can see that building a motorway flyover at the Basin Reserve is a very bad idea. We’ve had support from overseas as well – residents of cities in which flyovers are being torn down as the outdated relics they are have been shocked to hear that New Zealand is contemplating building a new one in the centre of the nation’s capital.

The European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) is the latest group to offer their support, and in their recent newsletter they carried an excellent article which concisely states the case against a Basin Reserve flyover and for a modern, sustainable transport system for Wellington. It’s well worth reading in full, but here is a key quote:

Major roads suck up resources that could be spent on infrastructure for cycling, walking and public transport and because of the principle of induced demand most road building results in increased congestion, not decreased. Conversely reducing road capacity by turning roads in to public spaces and green corridors actually reduces congestion, not increasing it. There is a growing body of cities that have implemented freeway demolitions with a huge positive effect on their cities.

Save the Basin is grateful to ECF for its support. Thanks, Kevin, Peter, and friends!

 

Ministry of Transport Research Shows Up NZTA’s Flawed Traffic Projections

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Historic New Zealand light vehicle traffic forecasts vs actual growth (Source: MoT)
Historic New Zealand light vehicle traffic forecasts vs actual growth (Source: MoT)

In trying to justify the Government’s $12 billion “Roads of National Significance” motorway-building programme, which included a Basin Reserve flyover, the New Zealand Transport Agency makes great play of a projected increase in Vehicle Kilometres Travelled (VKT). The growth in VKT, they say, can only be dealt with by building more motorways.

It’s been known for a long time that the second part of this argument is false: there is plentiful evidence from all around the world, and from New Zealand, that building new roading capacity only induces more traffic, thus leading to bigger motorways, thus leading to more traffic…

But, at the Board of Inquiry into the Basin Reserve flyover proposal, NZTA’s claims of growth in VKT was also challenged. Submitters pointed to recent New Zealand research that shows young people, especially in cities, are turning off driving.

Now research by the Ministry of Transport shows that Vehicle Kilometres Travelled in New Zealand has not grown since 2007. You can view this on the Ministry’s own site and also read a detailed analysis by Auckland’s Transport Blog.

Which raises two very basic questions:

1)    Why is NZTA continuing to claim that traffic demand will rise?
2)    Why is the Government continuing to ignore its own research?

You might think – you might very well think – that this is because the Government has bet $12 billion of public money on continuing to ignore the evidence. But I couldn’t possibly comment.

Make a Quick and Easy Submission on Wellington’s Draft Regional Land Transport Plan – Submissions close on Friday 20 February

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In an earlier post, we told you about the importance of submitting on Wellington’s Draft Regional Land Transport Plan, which local body politicians use to set transport priorities for the city. Submissions close at 4pm on Friday 20 February.

Now there’s a quick and easy online form you can use to make your submission, prepared by the good folks at Generation Zero in conjunction with FIT Wellington. Here’s all you need to do:

Go to http://www.generationzero.org/wellingtonrltp and fill in the quick submission form as follows:

– Enter your name

– Enter your email address

– Tick the four boxes that follow

– Enter any comments you want to make.

– Answer the question: Do you want to make an oral presentation?  Tick yes or no

– Send it.

One thing we’d really like you to say: it’s time to take any prospect of a Basin Reserve flyover off the table, and focus on developing better, more sustainable solutions!

Oral submissions will be heard by the Regional Transport Committee on 9/10 March. We encourage you to make an oral submission if you’re available to do so.

The Traffic Modelling Reality Gap

Posted on by tjonescan

Ex-Wellingtonian Nina Arron is a planner with a passion for Pedestrian Oriented Development who now lives in New Rochelle, New York. This means that she is in a great position to observe the gap between traffic modellers’ predictions and modern transport reality – the reality that traffic volumes are declining.

Photo by Patrick Morgan
Photo by Patrick Morgan

It seems that NZTA are not the only transport planners who are unable to see this reality. Nina has compiled a series of examples, from the US, Canada and Australia, of instances in which traffic planners’ faith in their outdated and inadequate models has led to costly transport failures.

You can read her article here: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1311/S00083/transportation-in-the-21st-century-the-modelingreality-gap.htm

NZTA – and the Government ministers behind the $12 billion “Roads of National Significance” scheme – are willing slaves to their models of endless traffic growth, unable to see the evidence of declining vehicle volumes that is in front of their eyes. That’s why it’s great to have someone like Nina to point it out to them.