Gvt puts motorways before our kids | Auckland News | Local News in Auckland

Been waiting for your street to be fixed or for that dangerous intersection to be sorted out? Joseph Barratt reports on why you'll be waiting even longer.

When times are tough, it's the big-ticket items that usually get the chop - but not if you're the Government.

The latest funding figures from the New Zealand Transport Agency for Auckland's councils reveal major works have priority over smaller projects such as maintenance, community education and road upgrades.

Council roading plans are based on a subsidy of  about 50 per cent from the transport agency.

However, the latest funding decisions failed to meet council requests and have left planners scrambling to rework their budgets for the next three years.

The funding puts more emphasis on state highways and less on other areas such as walking and cycling.

Jeremy Harris is a 26-year-old Aucklander who follows transport decisions keenly.

"When you're massively increasing funding on state highways but reducing on safety, something has to give,'' he says. "We had 81 fatalities on Auckland's roads last year and now we are cutting on safety.''

He says the Government's mindset is stuck in the 1950s and 60s, intent on building highways.

"Even the States are saying they got it wrong. We must be the last country in the world still putting all our eggs in the highway basket.''

Auckland's arterial roads could be used better, along with cycling and other projects, if the Government really wants to beat congestion.

"The Government is wasting the $10.7 billion they are spending on highways across the country. It doesn't make economic sense.''

The impact on Auckland City includes:

• major cutbacks on undergrounding powerlines
• replacing roadworks with shorter-term, temporary patch-ups
• cutbacks to community education
• reduced funding for the School Travel Plan infrastructure
• deferring work on Man O'War Bay Rd on Waiheke Island for three years.

Auckland City's funding for community education was chopped from $1.582 million to $813,000.

Road maintenance and renewals have similarly been cut by $2.75 million but new and reconstruction works have taken the largest hit.

Funding has been cut by $3.116 million for the year, and looks like  it will be reduced further by $5.457 million and $4.995 million in the following two years respectively.

Penny Perrit, general manager of transport at Auckland City, said the council will deliver a "programme that covers all of the vital activities", despite losing almost 40 per cent of its funding.

"The council has consistently exceeded delivery targets in previous years. Naturally, the council will continue to prioritise and attend to the most significant safety concerns on its network."

A report  by Waitakere City's manager of transport services, Hussam Abdul-Rassol, outlines the full impact to his area of the $10.9 million shortfall from the transport agency over the next three years.

It includes cuts to bus shelters, cycleways, flood damage repair, general maintenance, streetlight maintenance and power costs.

Road upgrades have also been  affected with work in the long-term council plan now having  insufficient money to go ahead. These include:

• Parrs Cross Rd, Henderson
• Lincoln Rd, Henderson
• Parker Rd, Waitakere
• Parker Ave, New Lynn
• School Rd, Henderson
• Bolton St, New Lynn
• Great North Rd, New Lynn
• Huia Rd, Titirangi-Huia
• Brigham Creek Rd, Massey
• Rathgar Rd, Henderson

School travel plan  projects will be shelved as will walking and cycleways.

Planned cycle lanes for Rathgar Rd, Universal Drive, Lincoln Rd to Swanson Rd, Hobsonville Rd, SH16 to Buckley Ave, Portage Rd, Neville St to Kinross St, Blockhouse Bay, and Pioneer to West Wave, have all been cut in the reductions.

The transport agency says the changes are guided by economic efficiency with economic growth and productivity  the primary objective for investment in transport infrastructure and services.

That is, main highways make money and your little side streets do not.

A report  by North Shore City's manager of transport infrastructure, Alan Wallace, shows there is still plenty of money for major corridor projects on the North Shore, but it must readjust the next three years' roading plans.

Demand-management and community programme budgets are $621,000 down along with a shortfall of $306,000 on road operations and maintenance.

Similarly, the subsidy on road renewal projects fell $1.7 million short of the council's expectations.

Archer Davis, who manages transport strategy and planning, says the cuts do not make sense. "This is what you expect to see in a Third World country - neglecting existing roads for the sake of the big new ones."

In Manukau City, community road safety funding has been hit with a shortfall of $450,000, operations and maintenance are short $1 million, renewal work $1.3 million and other capital works $4.3 million.

It will affect passenger transport, walking and cycling projects, safety maintenance, road maintenance, street cleaning, streetlights and bridge maintenance.

Manukau's transport manager, Chris Freke, says the council will work to the "bottom line", which will result in cutbacks or projects being deferred.

The transport agency says the changes in priorities are guided by economic efficiency with economic growth and productivity the primary objectives for investment in transport infrastructure and services.

That is, main highways make money and your little side streets do not.

The changes have affected all councils and raised the ire of Manukau Mayor Len Brown.

He emailed Prime Minister John Key expressing his concerns on the impact of the transport subsidy cuts.

"For urban areas in particular, cuts in areas such as road safety education, passenger transport infrastructure and travel demand management will, if perpetuated, work against many of the wider regional land use and transport objectives."

He points out that if the current funding levels remain it "will lead to undesirable outcomes".