MAY 26 2018 LISTENER 9
LIFE
None so blind
In Hawke’s
Bay, two cars
waiting at an
intersection is
called gridlock.
STEVE BOLTONBILL
RALSTON
M
ost people would find
it hard to summon up
much enthusiasm for
next month’s Northcote
by-election. It comes so soon after
the general election that even many
political junkies are politicked out.
But my interest perked up in April
when MP Jonathan Coleman quit
to get a real job. Northcote is where
I grew up and went to school. My
family had lived there since the time
of my great-grandfather.
Over the past 60 years, the area
has gone back and forth between
Labour and National; its MP, until he
resigned, was a National
one. This was not
because the voters were
especially fickle; the
switches reflected demo-
graphic changes that in
turn followed fluc-
tuations in the nature
of Auckland itself.
Northcote went from
being semi-rural to
suburban in barely a
decade, thanks to explo-
sive population growth
driven by the opening of
the Auckland Harbour
Bridge. Many of its prob-
lems today stem from
that time in 1960s.
Apart from the
multi-lane Northern
Motorway that charges
off the bridge along theAuckland leaders
have always made
the mistake of
thinking small.
“No, this is Mince Delight. Mince Surprise
is Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.”harbour edge, much of Northcote’s internal roading
is still a similar width to what it was in the 1960s.
The population growth has clogged the
roads as rush-hour vehicles crawl to and from
the harbour bridge. Actually, the term should
be “rush hours”, as the traffic seems almost as
intense all day, aside from lunchtime. Trans-
port should be the No 1 by-election issue but I
doubt any of the candidates have a real policy
that would solve the Shore’s traffic paralysis.
It is the same problem virtually Auckland-wide,
as anyone who has tried to make it to or from
Auckland Airport recently can testify. The Water-
view Tunnel has made the journey from my place
in Ponsonby easier, but it is reaching capacity and
congestion on Auckland Airport’s land brings you
to a grinding halt within view of the terminal.
Transport Minister Phil Twyford has picked
up the bright idea of light rail – modern trams
that will whisk me to the airport from the
central city – but since it will further restrict
road space for cars, it won’t help the good
people of Northcote, where there is no rail-
way, light or otherwise, get to their plane.Anyone trying to cross Auck-
land will have the same complaint
about traffic crawling pathetically
slowly. Bus lanes exist in parts but
they make little real difference. The
city continues to be car-addicted
because of the perception that the
public transport system across the
region is grossly inadequate.A
uckland’s leaders and central
government have always made
the mistake of thinking small.
In 1956, the city axed its trams.
The original plan for the Auckland
Harbour Bridge called for five or six
lanes, but four were built and extra
lanes had to be added only 10 years
later. In the 60s, Auckland Mayor
Dove-Myer Robinson pushed for a
rapid-rail system and consultants’
recommendations strongly supported
him. But when Robert Muldoon
got into power in the 1970s, he
killed the idea.
Auckland is now
paying the price for
these failures of vision
and there is little pros-
pect of any clear insight
on the city’s transport
problems today.
That’s why I spend
much of my time
in the rural idyll of
Hawke’s Bay, where
two cars waiting at an
intersection is called
gridlock. After the
by-election, I suggest
the good people of
Northcote might
consider doing the
same, because no
one is going to solve
Auckland’s traffic chaos
any time soon. l