Posted by Peter Woodcock on Mar 23, 2018

Speaker this week was Matt Poland of Auckland Transport who gave us a comprehensive update of the AMETI projects – there are actually 4 stages, the first being the completion of the Panmure Transit Station.  The next stage, already underway with archaeological exploration of the Mokoia Pa site, will provide rapid bus access (and wider pedestrian and cycle thoroughfare) along Lagoon Drive, across a new bus-only bridge to Pakuranga Plaza.  Graphic representation showed very attractive settings for this stage – still a couple of years away to completion.

Next will be the Plaza development, long awaited, with the Reeves Road fly-over and modern architectural design to make the area under this attractive to pedestrians and market retailers.

After that it’s the stretch along Ti Rakau Drive to Botany – this will also involve a second bus-only bridge across the Pakuranga inlet.

The end result will be an expected Botany to central city run taking no more than 38 minutes – a big drive (excuse the pun) to get cars off the roads and people into public transport.  Some car-loving sceptics will be holding their breath! Still a few years off to completion but the transformation promises to be quite aesthetically acceptable.