Perhaps the most interesting thing to come out of the phase one report into Auckland’s future CBD rail tunnel was the relocation of a Mt Eden/Newton station from underneath Exmouth Street to underneath Symonds Street – in the location shown by the diagram below (north is to the left of the image). Remember that the yellow route is the most likely one, as it scored highest in the initial tests:
I am glad there’s a station proposed there, as I actually think this corner of Auckland is rather overlooked in terms of its potential. Sure, there are a lot of apartments in the area and quite a few offices, but really to me it’s actually an extension of the CBD and could probably be treated more as though it was. Sure, there are some important heritage buildings within the area that you would want to protect from redevelopment, but that’s certainly the case in the CBD as well.
The current southern boundary of the CBD – at least formally in Auckland City Council’s planning documents – is spaghetti junction. But perhaps in the future, with this Newton station, that boundary could be shifted further south to be the Western Railway line. Doing this would mean that minimum parking requirements wouldn’t be applicable within the Newton area, its development potential would be increased significantly and you’d probably end up with a pretty vibrant area. A possible extension of the “CBD” is shown in blue in the map below:
All this area would be within an easy walking distance of Newton station, pretty much all of it is either apartments or light-industrial buildings – which means that there is an expectation of intensification (the apartments) but also quite a lot of potential for intensification (the light-industrial buildings). If we’re getting really hopeful, perhaps in the future we could “cap” the motorways between the Symonds Street bridge and the Upper Queen Street bridge – to really create a strong linkage between this area and the CBD.
Now these are the kinds of wider economic benefits that projects like the CBD Rail Tunnel will bring. A bit better than providing for more sprawl in Warkworth I reckon.
Looking into the future a station there would provide good links to future light rail lines. The dominion road line would go past there. Another line that could be worth looking at is a Newmarket – Newton – Ponsonby – Tankfarm line. This would integrate the Ponsonby Road area into the CBD and RTN. This would also solve the problem for commuters going to Newmarket from the west.Some people going there may find it easier too catch light rail at 3min headway from Newton than wait 5 – 10mins for a train going south past Newmarket.
How easy it is for this CBD designation to be extended to this area? I would think this is worth doing ASAP if only to get rid of the MPR and allow some higher quality development rather than more surburban carparks + tiny shop development that will otherwise pretty quickly pop up.
Something still needs to be done about Khyber Pass and Newton (tram down the middle would do nicely) as both have become de facto motorways – which is rather a shame considering the area is surrounded by motorways. I remember when the intersection there used to a lot more manageable as a pedestrian, before it was turned into a 6 lane mega junction.
It would have to wait for a new District Plan which, due to Super City re-arrangements, might be quite a few years away.
According to a discussion we had with Len Brown recently, the first two years of the SuperCity will be all about developing a spatial plan, with a view of afterwards producing one District Plan based on it.
That (during the spatial plan development) would be the point to raise such changes.
The AC council is kind of going in the opposite direction by limiting bar hours, a sign they see it as a more quiet residential area…
I am pretty sure Council abandoned the plans to limit bar hours.
In Auckland City’s “Future Planning Framework” I am pretty sure this area is identified as CBD fringe, which indicates a step towards eventual inclusion as part of the CBD.
I agree with extending the CBD to this area and it is nicely constrained by the rail line to the south. Dominion Rd to the west and the motorway to the east.
Also is there a chance of both a Newton 1 & 5 station? Newton 1 would be under Symonds St/Khyber pass and Newton 5 being more under Dominion Rd. The station spacing would be about the same as the station spacing along the rest of the tunnel
Luke, while the current Dominion Rd buses go via Symonds Street I’m wondering if it might be better to run a Dominion Rd tram straight up Ian McKinnon Drive to Queen St. That would be a lot more direct and there is a lot more width in the McKinnon corridor than up New North or Mt Eden Roads.
To that end I am a fan of having a station basically where the rail line underpasses the intersection of Dominion Rd and New North Rd too, like Matt L has suggested. As he notes this location is just under 1km from Kingsland and just over 1km to Symonds, which is ideal spacing for an inner city area.
A station under or just past Dominion Rd would be cheap and easy to build. The location is already grade separated from the road due to the flyover, and there is a pedestrian underpass right there too. At the minimum it would take just a couple of side platforms, a signal stop and a ramp down from Dominion Rd itself. Throw in a walkway from Brentwood Ave and Porters Ave and a couple of bus stops up on Dominion and we have a nice little bus to rail interchange for a couple of million dollars.
I have considered those ideas myself, but my feelings were that if the Newton area is to become part of the CBD then people from Dominion Road should have easy access to the area. Also if going through the interchange at Newton would allow easy transfers to other outer CBD areas such as Newmarket, Ponsonby etc. Although Domion Road itslef is an excellent trasnport corridor I feel it lacks good integration with the network as a whole, so it not so good if want wan to go anywhere that is more than 10min walk from Queen St.
Also I don’t think a Dom road railway station would be as easy as you suggest. There doesnt appear to be any obvious spot to build a bus stop, without adding extra ramps, or adding an extra lane to the bridge, which would be very expensive.
I would also lie to see Ian McKinnon Drive downgraded from a silly short piece of motorway to a more reasonable 50kmh street. This would help stop it feeding traffic into Queen and Symonds St.
The interchange and bridge is really over-engineered in comparison to the roads it connects to. There is plenty of scope for using some of the width for bus stops. A very obvious location can be seen here, just after the ramp from New North Road joins the southbound lanes there is what appears to be a long section of parking with a pedestrian refuge build out half way along.
http://maps.google.com.au/?ie=UTF8&ll=-36.869516,174.753208&spn=0.000721,0.001206&t=h&z=20
Would you route your tram to Symonds via View Rd as the buses go, or via New North? If it is the latter then it would pass over here anyway.
Agree totally Jarbury. The area is currently zoned mixed use which allows 4 storey buildings in theory. You have hit the nail on the head with the parking issue though, even this close to the CBD any use other than residential has to provide parking in accordance with the normal suburban parking requirements. No wonder no one bothers developing.
On the issue of bars, I personally think a “bar precinct” is the way to go with night clubs etc. It is never going to work trying to integrate residential apartments and late night pubs/clubs/bars in generic areas.
If we’re going to do that, it would be really cool to create a large connecting space, a wide (20m+) parklike bridge between the two, with either lawn or High Line style park. That would really open up the urban flow and create the sensation of a connected city, something that has been removed.
Banks was really opposed to limiting bar hours so the whole proposal was dumped, quite rightly I’d have to say. That and Banks’ support for the CBD tunnel are probably the only two things I’ve ever agreed with him on.
The current zoning has likely hindered development but in a way we can be glad, it has prevented all the highrise shoebox apartments from spreading into this area. Leaving the area open for some better planning developments now that design rules seem to have been tightened up on the council.
The plan is only to have a maximum of three stations from what I read in the report, I am guessing they could be convinced to consider more but it will only push the price up, which despite Joyce claiming finding 1.5 billion for the holiday highway is not an issue at all, certainly will be an issue for this project.
rtc – it also means it without all those high buildings its easier to put the tunnel in as it is less likely to interfer with anything. The only two buildings that might have foundations anywhere near deep enough would be Newcall tower and the former Feltex building that is now apartments. Both of these are eyesores anyway.
I have always said there should be a station where the rail goes under Dominion Rd. There is a pedestrian tunnel there already which could be opened out to form a platform on one side, and some underutilised open space on the other side.
Pleased to see I am not alone!
If there is light rail going up Dominion Rd, there is potential for a two level crossover point.
I think we have to be a bit wary of having too many stations on the Western Line. It already seems as though you’re barely able to get up any speed before reaching the next station between Newmarket and Mt Albert. Another station would make things worse in that respect.
Interestingly. it would seem as though the existing Mt Eden station disappears in this scheme?
As someone who used to catch the Mt eden station, it would be a shame to see it go. It does have a fairly decent catchment area, and you can find a park easily enough close by to avoid parking in the city.
THe only downside it had was that catching the train into the city took 2 stages, because you had to go through new market, where as the bus was only one stage.
The one stage boundary on the Western Line is Kingsland, not Newmarket.
Mt Eden station always seems like a lost opportunity to me. Sure it’s located in an area with a reasonably good catchment, but it seems so hidden away behind buildings that it took me forever to figure out where the heck it was in relation to the surrounding road network. Its isolation means that it might not feel like the safest place ever either.
I left auckland in 2003, so it may have changed, but it definately used to be Newmarket
Mt Eden is pretty safe as neighbourhoods go, and there is, or was, a clear view from the rd to the station