Onewa Road on Auckland's North Shore has tens of thousands of vehicles travel on it every day. Photo: Google Maps
A new planned shared walking and cycling path on a busy North Shore route will help ease congestion in the area, says Auckland Transport.
About 30,000 vehicles travel along Onewa Road every day. The road is currently made up of two lanes each way and transit lanes, and is the link to the Northern Motorway on and off ramps.
Road network optimisation manager Chris Martin said the changes will make the road more productive.
"While the T3 lane is for buses and vehicles with three or more occupants, by making the road more productive at moving more people, it results in better journey times for all road users.
"We want to make further improvements to move everyone along faster, with bus boosters and queue detection technology as part of our plans," Martin said.
AT plan to remove about 140 parking spaces in the changes, and notes that not many are used when the transit lanes aren't operating.
Feedback is open on the changes from now until 6 April, with the aim of delivering most of the changes by the end of 2025.
North Shore councillor Richard Hills and Northcote MP Dan Bidois are advocating for the change.
"Let's be clear, this is not a rebuild, this is simply making the most of the space already there on Onewa Road to ease the burden of congestion and to make the road safer for the tens of thousands of people who use it every day," Bidois said.
The shared path will be for pedestrians, cyclists and e-scooter users, and there will also be improved technology at the pedestrian crossings adjacent to the three schools on Onewa Road.
Hills encouraged people to participate in the consultation.
"We're keen to hear from our community on how we can help make things better and move smarter."
Auckland Transport are inviting feedback through their portal,haveyoursay.at.govt.nz.
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