Greenie Keith Locke makes an interesting but very Greenie point today when he connects up yesterday’s two big transport stories – the SH20 decision and the surprise Auckland Airport company call to hasten an airport rail link.
Writing on the Greens’ FrogBlog this afternoon, Locke says the Waterview Connection is due to be completed by 2016, just four years away from when the International Energy Agency’s chief economist predicts the price of petrol will go through the roof.
Says Locke: “When peak oil arrives, won’t it be more use to have a dedicated rail line to the airport, with an extension between Onehunga and Avondale (as has been projected since the 1950s) to carry the people who won’t be able to afford much car travel.”
Maybe. But , while riding our bike and walking keeps us fit, it would be good to have both. I used the SH20 the other late afternoon and it’s crazy to suddenly end the journey by slamming on the brakes to exit at Sandringham Rd, where I struck an equally frustrating heavy traffic snarls.
I’m not sure how the residents in the area are coping with increased traffic pouring onto their street, on which there is also an intermediate school.
Sandringham Rd cars rushing onto the SH20
I was coming back from Auckland airport and it was a slow stop-start crawl along the Mangere bridge area. I can’t wait for both the SH20 and the Mangere bridge to get finished.
I had thought of using the airport bus to get to the airport but that also didn’t go near where I needed to go and would have been caught in the same slow rush hour traffic crawl.
Hurry up, airport rail.
Anyway back to SH20, the key unanswered question does remain how much the project will cost. Locke predicts $1.4 billion and counting. We shall see in due course.
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5 Responses to “Greenie Call For Airport Rail, Not SH20”
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Even if the petrol price go through the roof, the aucklanders will still use thier cars because at the moment the public transport options are limited, even if the Airport line was built. So unless they come up wth 5 new eletricfied lines with newly refurbished carriages and stations, Auckland will stay behind in rail use patronage.
That is a bit of an oxymoron from Keith, air travel costs will skyrocket to, so why not build a really useful line through East Auckland..?
Haha, Sky-rocketing air travel costs.
If air travel becomes too expensive, then we will land locked in our own country.
However, whether peak oil is an issue or not, I think this project will also be import in linking near by suburbs as well as air travel.
Traffic volumes did reduce quite dramatically last year when petrol prices broke through $2 a litre.