North Auckland

Feedback open from 11 July-19 August 2022

Thank you to everyone who gave their feedback on the long-term transport connections for North Auckland. Feedback has now closed.

Download the engagement summary [PDF, 13 MB].

What happens next?

We are undertaking further technical assessments and investigations and this will continue over the next few months. We will get in touch with potentially impacted landowners in early-mid 2023 to outline possible property impacts and to help provide greater certainty.

The Auckland Transport and Waka Kotahi Boards will consider the North Detailed Business Case in mid-2023, and lodgement of Notice of Requirements to support route protection of the preferred alignments will also happen in mid-2023.

• Download the engagement summary [PDF, 13 MB]
• View feedback received during the consultation(external link)

Silverdale, Dairy Flat, Wainui and Orewa are growing fast. By 2050, the areas of land zoned for future growth will accommodate 40,000 new homes and more than 600 hectares of new business land will be developed.

To support future urban growth, a well-designed integrated transport network for North Auckland is needed. We’re proposing long-term transport projects to help everyone move around safely, easily and sustainably, whether they’re walking, cycling, using public transport or driving.

To guide our planning, Auckland Transport and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency outlined a long-term strategic transport network in 2019. It was developed with community consultation and contains options for local and longer distance trips to create a low-carbon transport system for North Auckland. Since then, the project team has investigated and developed a number of preferred options.

Key features of the long-term transport network for North Auckland: 

• Improved access to jobs and social facilities
• Reliable access for the movement of people and goods
• Provide travel choices to encourage a shift to active modes (walking and cycling) and public transport
• Provide a safe transport system for all users
• Ensure the transport network is well integrated with the land use.

We’re working with Auckland Council to integrate our transport planning with Auckland Council’s land use aspirations for the Future Urban Zone (including the Silverdale West Dairy Flat Industrial Area Structure Plan(external link) and a future Dairy Flat metropolitan/town centre(external link)) to create high-quality and more compact future communities with greater access to walking, cycling and public transport choices. 

What long-term projects are we proposing?

We’re protecting land to enable the future development of a range of long-term transport projects:

• A new 16km rapid transit corridor from Albany via Dairy Flat and onto Milldale providing efficient, frequent, high-quality public transport
• Improved public transport connections for the wider area with bus priority on key routes including a high frequency bus route connecting Ōrewa and Silverdale
• 25km of new walking and cycling paths across North Auckland
• Improvements to State Highway 1 (SH1) including additional space to cater for more people moving around in the future, upgraded interchanges at Redvale and Silverdale and a new interchange at Wilks Road.

Next steps

We will review all feedback and look into whether we can incorporate any suggested changes to our preferred options.

The next step is to complete more detailed investigations for all preferred options. During 2022, environmental and technical assessments will continue along with engagement with Manawhenua, other partners, local property owners, developers and key community stakeholders. This will help us make decisions to confirm the preferred options.

The North Auckland Detailed Business Case process is expected to be completed in early 2023 and scheduled for consideration by the Auckland Transport and Waka Kotahi Boards in mid-2023.

Where are we heading?

We are working towards lodging our Notice of Requirement (NoR)(external link) documentation to protect the land we need. Once this is finalised it will be lodged with either Waka Kotahi or Auckland Transport as the requiring authorities. An important part of developing a NoR is consulting with those potentially affected – the community, Manawhenua, businesses, government and community organisations.

The majority of these projects are yet to be funded for delivery. It is anticipated they will be considered for funding in line with the long-term timeframes for the rezoning and release of land by Auckland Council over the next 10-30 years.

Our planning work will integrate with Auckland Council’s land use plans including the draft Spatial Land Use Strategy for Dairy Flat and Silverdale(external link) and the Silverdale West Dairy Flat Industrial Area Structure Plan(external link) to support future growth for these areas.

Other transport projects transforming North Auckland

A number of other transport projects are already underway or being planned to transform the north of Auckland. Our programme will need to consider how these other projects relate to the long term vision for the north. Projects include:

• Penlink(external link) (an alternative route between Whangaparāoa and State Highway 1)
• Dairy Flat Highway Safety Improvements(external link)
• Works to support the live-zoned areas of Milldale(external link) are being funded by Crown Infrastructure Partners (CIP)
• Waitemata Harbour Connections Project(external link) – a study looking at the future of the Rapid Transit Corridor and highway corridors between the city and Albany
• North Shore rapid transit network(external link) – investigating a long-term rail solution to serve the North Shore and connect with the rest of the Auckland transport network
• The Rodney Targeted Rate(external link) is funding footpath improvements between Dairy Flat School and Postmans Road to make it safer and easier for pedestrians to move around.

Publications

• View all publications relating to North Auckland(external link).