News – Page 12 – Save the Basin

Media Release: Teens Turn Off Driving – Time To Turn Off Flyover Plans

Posted on 02/03/2014 by tjonescan

The Save the Basin Campaign says the news that there has been a dramatic drop in the number of Wellington teens getting their drivers’ licences backs up its stance that there is no need for the Government and the New Zealand Transport Agency to press ahead with plans for a Basin Reserve flyover.

“According to the report in today’s Sunday Star-Times, NZTA’s own figures show that the number of Wellington teens between 16 and 19 getting their drivers’ licences has fallen by over 50%, and up to 75%, between 2008 and 2013. This dramatic decline reflects a worldwide trend. It shows that teenagers have rejected the car culture and assumptions of endless traffic growth that drive NZTA’s and the Government’s planning for such projects as a Basin Reserve flyover.”

“These figures back up what Save the Basin has been saying all along,” Tim Jones said. “Not only would a flyover be ugly, disruptive, and put the future of the Basin Reserve at risk – it simply isn’t necessary. Young Wellingtonians are turning off driving because it costs too much, it’s unsafe, they don’t need to drive across town to communicate with their friends, and public transport provides good alternatives. So why build a massive flyover that won’t be needed?”

“Rather than wasting money on outmoded motorways and flyovers, we need to be investing in high-speed broadband on the one hand, and public transport on the other. But the Government is full of baby-boomers who grew up with cars on the brain, and it seems that NZTA’s transport planners share the same mentality.”

“It’s time for a change in transport thinking,” Tim Jones concluded. “It’s time to let go of the notion that New Zealanders are wedded to their cars, because that’s no longer what the evidence says. It’s time to abandon the 1960s transport thinking that says the answer is always a flyover or a motorway. It’s time to plan for the future, not the past.”

UPDATE: See TV One’s coverage of the issue: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/fewer-teens-apply-driver-licence-video-5855551

ENDS

Tim Jones
Save the Basin Campaign spokesperson
027 359 0293

Cloud Cuckoo Land

Posted on 28/02/2014 by tjonescan

At the Basin flyover Board of Inquiry hearing:

First NZTA said that a Basin Reserve flyover would save 7.5 minutes on vehicle trips – and we soon showed that, even using their own methodology, six of those minutes were imaginary, or cross-claimed from other projects.

Then NZTA said a Basin Reserve flyover was necessary to enable a “step change” in public transport use – and today, WCC witness Geoff Swainson admitted that the term “step change” was inappropriate, that it was at most a very gentle slope, and that modelling showed hardly any extra trips would occur as a result of a flyover being built.

Today’s “justification” for building a large motorway flyover at the Basin Reserve is that it would improve the experience for pedestrians and cyclists.

And next week, they’ll be saying we need to build a flyover to make our city more beautiful.

Welcome to Cloud Cuckoo Land, courtesy Wellington City Council officials, the Government, and the New Zealand Transport Agency.

7 Reasons Not to Build a Flyover at the Basin Reserve

Posted on 23/02/2014 by tjonescan

1) A flyover at the Basin Reserve is unnecessary. The needed transport improvements at the Basin can be achieved by ‘at grade’ changes (i.e. not above or below ground). The major bottlenecks in the system are at other places, such as the Mt Victoria tunnel and at Taranaki St – not at the Basin.

2) A flyover at the Basin would be monumentally ugly. Don’t believe the NZTA concept pictures that make it look like an elven bridge out of Lord of the Rings. Real flyovers are ugly, massive structures. The ground underneath flyovers isn’t a parkland dotted with attractive people taking their ease, as NZTA likes to portray – it’s a wasteland – and, this being Wellington, it would be a very windy wasteland.

3) Not only would a flyover be ugly, but the planned location is a critical part of Wellington. Building a flyover would destroy a lot of heritage values and ruin a central Wellington cityscape.

4) A flyover at the Basin is already budgeted to cost $90 million, and would undoubtedly cost more. It’s a waste of money.

5) Visitors to Wellington have told us repeatedly that they can’t believe a modern country is even thinking about building a flyover near the centre of its capital city. In the rest of the world – the UK, San Francisco, Seoul – flyovers are being torn down. A US expert’s testimony to the Basin Board of Inquiry echoes this point: http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/9723004/Basin-Reserve-flyover-idea-a-50s-relic-expert.

6) A flyover would be bad for cricket at the Basin. Even if the proposed “Northern Gateway Building” (*not* a grandstand – there would be no spectator seating there) were to be built, a flyover would still be visible, and audible, from parts of the Basin. No other international cricket ground has an elevated roadway running right next to it. Umpires, players and spectators would all hear and see a flyover.

7) The Basin Reserve has Test status from the ICC because of its historic use as a Test ground. If a flyover is built at the Basin, plus associated works, it is likely to trigger an assessment of the ground’s suitability as a Test venue by the International Cricket Council – which means, in effect, by India, Australia and England, who have seized power at the ICC. These three countries are trying to carve up the intrnational cricket cake between them. Why risk the future of the Basin, and give the ICC the chance to rule out Test cricket being played there, for the sake of an outdated, ugly flyover that doesn’t need to be built?

A flyover would dominate the view from St Mark's School - With thanks to Wellington Scoop — A flyover would dominate the view from St Mark’s School – With thanks to Wellington Scoop

Campaigners criticising a proposed project is one thing. Politicians criticising a proposed project is another thing. But when independent transport experts find gaping flaws in the claimed benefits underlying a proposal, then that proposed project has a problem.

And that’s exactly the situation with the proposed Basin Reserve flyover. A series of traffic and transportation peer review reports from consultants appointed by the Board of Inquiry has shown damning holes, inconsistencies and grossly inflated claims in NZTA’s proposals – faults that NZTA and its experts have chosen to gloss over.

You can find those reports here: http://www.epa.govt.nz/Resource-management/Basin_Bridge/ReportsAdvice/Pages/default.aspx under the heading “Traffic and Transportation peer review report” towards the bottom of the page.

Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson has highlighted one of thesee key issues in a recent press release, reported on Wellington Scoop:

Basin flyover “a colossal waste of money,” says Grant Robertson

To quote from the statement:

The travel time saved by the proposed Basin Reserve flyover amounts to only 90 seconds, not the claimed seven-and-a-half minutes, a new statement by experts and witnesses shows, Labour’s MP for Wellington Central Grant Robertson says.

“This flyover is costing $90 million but in the end will only save commuters 90 seconds. That is a colossal waste of money when they are other alternatives available to improve traffic flow.

“The claim has been made that the flyover will give seven-and-a-half minutes of travel time savings, but in material released late last week. The experts now agree six of those minutes actually come from a third lane in the Memorial Park tunnel and changes to the Taranaki Street intersection. These are completely separate developments from the flyover.

“It is significant that witnesses and experts agree on this. It puts into question the cost benefit claims about the project and should weigh heavily on the Board of Inquiry.

And of course, Grant Robertson is far from the only politician to criticise the proposed flyover. In addition to Labour, the Greens, United Future, New Zealand First and Mana have all expressed opposition to the proposed flyover. All these parties recognise a crock when they see one. It’s a pity NZTA and the Government are too blinded by their own arrogance to see the fatal flaws in its proposal.

PS: Here’s the same story covered by the Dominion Post: http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/9706340/Flyover-to-shave-90-seconds-off-trip

Media Release: Teens Turn Off Driving – Time To Turn Off Flyover Plans

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