The Supporting Growth Programme is a collaboration between NZ Transport Agency(external link), Auckland Transport(external link) and Auckland Council(external link) to investigate, plan and deliver the transport services needed to support Auckland’s future urban growth areas over the next 30 years. The programme was formerly known as the Transport for Urban Growth Programme.
In 2016, the programme identified a high level preferred network plan(external link) for each of the future urban areas (Warkworth, North, North West and South Auckland) highlighted in Auckland Council's Future Urban Land Supply Strategy and Auckland Unitary Plan documents.
Since then, several priority projects in these areas have started and are progressing through business case and consenting processes. These include the Matakana Link Road(external link) near Warkworth, safety improvements to State Highway 16(external link) in the North West, Dairy Flat Highway(external link) in the North, State Highway 22 i(external link)n the South, and the State Highway 1 Papakura to Bombay(external link) project.
Other major projects have also been highlighted in 2018 by the Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP) for priority development this decade, to help support the initial development of the future urban areas and ensure good connections develop between the se areas and current urban or employment areas. These major projects also seek to provide the future growth areas with travel choices, so they grow in ways that are not highly dependent on private vehicles. These include the northwestern rapid transit corridor(external link), Mill Road(external link) corridor and Penlink(external link).
For the remaining projects, the next phase of the programme is now getting underway. The objective of this next phase is to investigate and route protect the transportation projects needed to accommodate the growth in the future urban growth areas over the next 30 years. This work will be led by a new entity: Te Tupu Ngātahi. Te Tupu Ngātahi is a planning alliance and comprises a team of people from Auckland Transport, NZ Transport Agency, AECOM, Beca, Bell Gully and Buddle Findlay.
Te Tupu Ngātahi will review the 2016 preferred network in light of the Government's transport priorities and Auckland Council's latest land use planning, assess transport options and develop business cases, and begin staged route protection processes by the end of 2019. The aim is to protect the full network over the next five years, though it is expected that some projects will complete their hearing processes earlier than this.
Feedback from the community and other stakeholders is a key part of this process. Initial consultation will take place from August to October 2018, and there will be more detailed consultation in 2019 as alignment options are developed further for the preferred network.
The alliance is working closely with its partners Manawhenua, KiwiRail and Auckland Council land use planning teams to develop an integrated response to growth. Transport has an important role to play in enabling urban development, for example by providing rapid transit and public transport services, and shaping placemaking. Likewise, the transport services being proposed need to adequately support the latest land use plans.
For more detailed information on the background of the programme and next steps, see The Supporting Growth story.
Links
Auckland Transport Alignment Project(external link) (ATAP)
Future Urban Land Supply Strategy(external link)
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