OK the weather didn't play ball but we still had a good time. The Mayor and deputy mayor rode with our MP and Councillor Alan Stallard leading the Santa convoy from Victory Community Centre along the Railway reserve to Broadgreen Intermediate School Grounds:
Join us to help bring about
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Tauranga City Council has produced these great little videos. The first is on how you can't road build you way out of congestion, the second is on how if you want more people to leave their car at home so congestion doesn't get any worse, if you really want people to start using the buses, then it has to be at least convenient and faster than driving your car. And that means bus lanes Nelsust has sent these to the Mayor and the chair of the Nelson Regional Transport Committee in the hope that they get it too and might consider producing ones like this for Nelson
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Nelsust's Submission on the Nelson-Tasman Future Development Strategy
Controversially the FDS came out with sprawl as a big part of catering for additional population. And deviously really , they called additional rural dwellings as intensification. We strongly suggested that Settlement Patterns Determine Transport Demand and pushed for allowing more inner residential housing (townhouses not necessarily apartments). Submission is below:
Controversially the FDS came out with sprawl as a big part of catering for additional population. And deviously really , they called additional rural dwellings as intensification. We strongly suggested that Settlement Patterns Determine Transport Demand and pushed for allowing more inner residential housing (townhouses not necessarily apartments). Submission is below:
| future_develop.strat._ncc_tdc__2019_nelsust.pdf |
INDUCED TRAFFIC 101 - Increasing road capacity increases driving, congestion is not relieved
Some people still believe that you can ease congestion by roadbuilding.
More roads, less congestion, its obvious isn’t it? Only its wrong. Its a hoary old myth that roadbuilding eases congestion, when it has never worked anywhere in the world, in anything other than the short term. We’ve challenged would be motorway builders with - show us your model, show us where its worked - nothing, no answer, no model. More roadbuilding means more people living further out, more people not being able to use a bus, more people not cycling to work, more cars and back to more congestion.
The National Party even said that regardless of every study that has been done into it coming out against the Southern Link, they would build it. We hope to change their minds in favour of evidence based decision making.
It was the tying of the Rocks Rd esplanade to the Southern Link that stopped this boulevard from progressing 2017. All these years and still no way for a baby-buggy and a mobility scooter to pass on the footpath without one of them going on the road. This is failed policy.
It's time to put the roadbuilding your way out of congestion myth to bed: its time to get on and build the generous width esplanade that'll be Nelson’s jewel, its time to make it safe for kids to get to school under their own steam, its time for express buses running on clearway lanes not on Rocks Rd but on Whakatu drive and Waimea Road South, its time for more close in to city living.
Dan Dolejs said in the Nelson Mail that Whakatu drive is an example of new roadbuilding easing congestion, but in fact it has done the opposite. You can clearly see in NCC traffic counts how traffic numbers surged on the opening of Whakatu Drive as people were encouraged to live outside of town in the new rural residential zones. More driving was encouraged and traffic is worse now than it ever was. Even in Stoke traffic numbers are up from 14000 vehicles in 2006 to 17500 in 2016. This compares with Rocks Road traffic numbers being less in 2016 than 2006.
But Dan this misses the main point that the Myth of the Southern Link as a congestion buster has already been exhaustively investigated, found to actually increase congestion, whilst not materialising affect severance on Tahuna Drive and Waimea road, not be more efficient, not improve safety and significantly degrade air quality. We need to put the SLink congestion busting myth to bed and build the Esplanade. And we have shown how this can be done cheaply and quickly and at the same time protect the road form wave splash.
Some people still believe that you can ease congestion by roadbuilding.
More roads, less congestion, its obvious isn’t it? Only its wrong. Its a hoary old myth that roadbuilding eases congestion, when it has never worked anywhere in the world, in anything other than the short term. We’ve challenged would be motorway builders with - show us your model, show us where its worked - nothing, no answer, no model. More roadbuilding means more people living further out, more people not being able to use a bus, more people not cycling to work, more cars and back to more congestion.
The National Party even said that regardless of every study that has been done into it coming out against the Southern Link, they would build it. We hope to change their minds in favour of evidence based decision making.
It was the tying of the Rocks Rd esplanade to the Southern Link that stopped this boulevard from progressing 2017. All these years and still no way for a baby-buggy and a mobility scooter to pass on the footpath without one of them going on the road. This is failed policy.
It's time to put the roadbuilding your way out of congestion myth to bed: its time to get on and build the generous width esplanade that'll be Nelson’s jewel, its time to make it safe for kids to get to school under their own steam, its time for express buses running on clearway lanes not on Rocks Rd but on Whakatu drive and Waimea Road South, its time for more close in to city living.
Dan Dolejs said in the Nelson Mail that Whakatu drive is an example of new roadbuilding easing congestion, but in fact it has done the opposite. You can clearly see in NCC traffic counts how traffic numbers surged on the opening of Whakatu Drive as people were encouraged to live outside of town in the new rural residential zones. More driving was encouraged and traffic is worse now than it ever was. Even in Stoke traffic numbers are up from 14000 vehicles in 2006 to 17500 in 2016. This compares with Rocks Road traffic numbers being less in 2016 than 2006.
But Dan this misses the main point that the Myth of the Southern Link as a congestion buster has already been exhaustively investigated, found to actually increase congestion, whilst not materialising affect severance on Tahuna Drive and Waimea road, not be more efficient, not improve safety and significantly degrade air quality. We need to put the SLink congestion busting myth to bed and build the Esplanade. And we have shown how this can be done cheaply and quickly and at the same time protect the road form wave splash.
Nelsust's
Top 3
congestion busters
Top 3
congestion busters
| q_a___big_3_congestion_busting_ideas.pdf |
Questions & Answers about the SLink (Southern Link)- how to answer those awkward questions!
| q_a_-_long_version.pdf |
The space
200 commuters
take up
depending on their mode of travel
200 commuters
take up
depending on their mode of travel
THIS is the real problem with
car commuting - they are
space eaters.
We want our cities
vibrant with people
not choked with cars
car commuting - they are
space eaters.
We want our cities
vibrant with people
not choked with cars
Stoke Bypass hasn't stopped Stoke Traffic growth
Explanation: The fine dashed lines are the traffic counts as of course there is a lot of fluctuations in these figures, often seasonal. This "noise" tends to disguise the overall trends and this is where the heavy straight lines come in. They are the Annual Average traffic volume, each colour represents each road. You can see that Main Road Stoke traffic volumes have kept on growing despite the building of the Stoke Bypass/Whakatu Drive.
You can also see that Waimea Road only surpassed 2008 levels in 2017 despite record regional population growth for years (graph by Nelson City Council). Yes there are times when traffic really is blocked upon but the trends are the most significant thing and there only in the last 3 years is there more traffic on Waimea road than a decade ago, despite all those extra people here. We should note here that as the traffic becomes more two way - i.e. not just into Nelson in the morning and out in the afternoon, but out to Richmond in the morning and back in the afternoon, then traffic count numbers will increase but congestion not necessarily and that may well be happening on Waimea road. Rocks Road traffic is still less than a decade ago though.
You can also see that Waimea Road only surpassed 2008 levels in 2017 despite record regional population growth for years (graph by Nelson City Council). Yes there are times when traffic really is blocked upon but the trends are the most significant thing and there only in the last 3 years is there more traffic on Waimea road than a decade ago, despite all those extra people here. We should note here that as the traffic becomes more two way - i.e. not just into Nelson in the morning and out in the afternoon, but out to Richmond in the morning and back in the afternoon, then traffic count numbers will increase but congestion not necessarily and that may well be happening on Waimea road. Rocks Road traffic is still less than a decade ago though.
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Our Feedback to NZTA on the Southern Link Investigation:
The process has of course a predetermined outcome with the then Minister of Transport Gerry Brownlee quoted as saying "the government has not put up $12 million outside of the land transport fund to get a report to say don't do it" (Nelson Mail Dec 30 2014). But we still gave a solid 30 page feedback to the study highlight lighting its flaws and putting forward our solutions to Nelson's transport issues. Here it is at the right: |
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Auditor General Investigation into Southern Link Study Funding
The office of the Auditor General agreed to look into our request that funding yet another study into the Southern Link is a waste of Taxpayers Money. Especially since the very criteria for projects being part of the Accelerated Regional Roading Projects was that they were projects that were identified as being required in the near future but for which there had been little investigation. Both of these were false as the 2010-11 in depth Arterial Study showed that no roading expansion was needed in the foreseeable future (25 years) and that if roading expansion was required, the Southern Link was not the best option. Unfortunately the AG's Office said they couldn't take this any further; importantly they didn't say our arguments were invalid. They said "our mandate does not allow us to criticise a public entity for giving effect to a policy decision made by elected officials" At right is our request to the AG detailing all the things wrong with the current SL investigation: |
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Complaint to the Commerce Commission on the NZTA
The NZ Transport Agency, although a government body is bound by the Fair Trading Act. The must not do anything Misleading or Deceptive But this is exactly what they have been doing in the latest appearance of the Southern Link Zombie, the NZTA's so called "Business Case Study”. Here is our 19 page submission we sent to the Comcom. In the end they declined to take this any further, but did not say we didn't have a case. |
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Proximity
as a Transport Solution Here is an article from the Greater Auckland Transport Blog. The multistory unit shown here is obviously more appropriate in Auckland rather than Nelson, but there are still lessons to be learnt from living close so commuting is much simpler: |
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This school year Auckland University will be opening up housing for 600+ students at the City Centre Campus, including the 55 Symonds Street building pictured above. This is a welcome addition to the meager (though increasing) supply of student housing of about 3,100 units.
For reference 600+ people is close to the number of cars on one traffic lane running along Symonds Street through the campus during a peak AM hour. Of course, very few students travel by car, so the new residents are more likely to be releasing valuable seats on packed public transport services during the already oversubscribed peak period.
Students living in these new facilities will travel much shorter distances overall than their counterparts scattered across the city. People located in central locations travel shorter distance since they are located close to their primary place of “work” and have a concentration of services and destinations close by. As students they are not captured in conventional journey to work surveys and their daily walking trips aren’t even considered.
Here is an interesting article by California planning guru William Fulton in Governing Magazine, “A Low Cost Solution to Traffic” where he poses one obvious solution to the 21st century transport challenge as described in Austin Texas.
A couple of generations ago, we would have solved this problem pretty simply, by foolishly spending a lot of money to plow new freeways through existing communities. But attitudes have changed…
Which brings us to proximity. One of the few ways around this problem is to build more housing close to the urban cores — or, at least, close to the dense suburban job centers. Urban planners often argue for locating more housing along high-frequency transit lines, which makes sense because many people can commute by transit.
What’s not well understood, however, is that well-located housing can cut down on the amount of driving — and hence the need for additional road space — even if people are still tethered to their cars. One famous study in the San Francisco Bay Area found that people living in Berkeley and Oakland drive only half as far as people in the outer suburbs — not because they take transit more, but because the places they have to go are closer together.
As we develop transport solutions for the wicked challenges of regional transport and city centre access, this is one area where it seems we could do much better. Every new housing unit comes with a built-in transport requirement.
What if centrally located or rapid transit proximate housing was funded/supported as a transport investment? As the housing cycle inevitably slows, is there a role of government to step in to support housing options that will also help to solve the city’s transport problems instead of exacerbating the problem by focusing on far flung, car-dependent development?
This Proximity as a Transport Solution is something we have been pushing council on. Rather than forcing people to live way out at Ngawhatu, Atawhai or Richmond because of lack of other available options we have asked Council to allow 2 dwellings as of right for close-in suburbs (say 1.5 km from cathedral). Secondly we asked for a townhouse zone donut of inner residential housing be created around the inner city fringe. Both of these would of course use existing infrastructure - existing roads, water supply, stormwater and sewerage. And we suggested means such as low flow water fittings, rainwater tanks and grey water reuse that mean no extra load on existing pipeworts. Allowing more close-in living won’t increase traffic demand as these are the very areas were people can easily active transport themselves to and from where they want to go. Below is one of the few examples we have of townhouses built close to the city centre, here its Hathaway Court opposite Trailways. And alongside that is a Japanese example of how you can make the street around these buildings a playground where the cars are guests.
For reference 600+ people is close to the number of cars on one traffic lane running along Symonds Street through the campus during a peak AM hour. Of course, very few students travel by car, so the new residents are more likely to be releasing valuable seats on packed public transport services during the already oversubscribed peak period.
Students living in these new facilities will travel much shorter distances overall than their counterparts scattered across the city. People located in central locations travel shorter distance since they are located close to their primary place of “work” and have a concentration of services and destinations close by. As students they are not captured in conventional journey to work surveys and their daily walking trips aren’t even considered.
Here is an interesting article by California planning guru William Fulton in Governing Magazine, “A Low Cost Solution to Traffic” where he poses one obvious solution to the 21st century transport challenge as described in Austin Texas.
A couple of generations ago, we would have solved this problem pretty simply, by foolishly spending a lot of money to plow new freeways through existing communities. But attitudes have changed…
Which brings us to proximity. One of the few ways around this problem is to build more housing close to the urban cores — or, at least, close to the dense suburban job centers. Urban planners often argue for locating more housing along high-frequency transit lines, which makes sense because many people can commute by transit.
What’s not well understood, however, is that well-located housing can cut down on the amount of driving — and hence the need for additional road space — even if people are still tethered to their cars. One famous study in the San Francisco Bay Area found that people living in Berkeley and Oakland drive only half as far as people in the outer suburbs — not because they take transit more, but because the places they have to go are closer together.
As we develop transport solutions for the wicked challenges of regional transport and city centre access, this is one area where it seems we could do much better. Every new housing unit comes with a built-in transport requirement.
What if centrally located or rapid transit proximate housing was funded/supported as a transport investment? As the housing cycle inevitably slows, is there a role of government to step in to support housing options that will also help to solve the city’s transport problems instead of exacerbating the problem by focusing on far flung, car-dependent development?
This Proximity as a Transport Solution is something we have been pushing council on. Rather than forcing people to live way out at Ngawhatu, Atawhai or Richmond because of lack of other available options we have asked Council to allow 2 dwellings as of right for close-in suburbs (say 1.5 km from cathedral). Secondly we asked for a townhouse zone donut of inner residential housing be created around the inner city fringe. Both of these would of course use existing infrastructure - existing roads, water supply, stormwater and sewerage. And we suggested means such as low flow water fittings, rainwater tanks and grey water reuse that mean no extra load on existing pipeworts. Allowing more close-in living won’t increase traffic demand as these are the very areas were people can easily active transport themselves to and from where they want to go. Below is one of the few examples we have of townhouses built close to the city centre, here its Hathaway Court opposite Trailways. And alongside that is a Japanese example of how you can make the street around these buildings a playground where the cars are guests.
Getting Trucks off Rocks Road - Log Barging
IN 2018 we wrote a preliminary report into how logs from the South of the city (where most of the forests are) could instead of being trucked along Rocks Road, be barged from Rabbit Island. Our proposal is zero cost by exchanging the tripple handling that currently happens on valuable Port land with directly transferring them from the truck to barges on cheap land to the South East of Rabbit Island. When when a log ship comes into port, the barges are moved to the seaward side of the longships tied up at the wharf. The logships are just as able to load from one side as the other, so they would load the logs from the South of the city off barges on the seaward side and logs from the North of the city on the Port side.
We are not pretending that this would get all or even most of the heavy trucks off Rocks Rd, but it would get 35,000 of the most intimidating trucks off this road per annum, off Tahuna and Richmond roads without sending them the long way round over the hill and through the city to get to the Port.
We have yet to get uptake from either the Port or the City Council to undertake a more detailed investigation, but you can read our preliminary report below:
IN 2018 we wrote a preliminary report into how logs from the South of the city (where most of the forests are) could instead of being trucked along Rocks Road, be barged from Rabbit Island. Our proposal is zero cost by exchanging the tripple handling that currently happens on valuable Port land with directly transferring them from the truck to barges on cheap land to the South East of Rabbit Island. When when a log ship comes into port, the barges are moved to the seaward side of the longships tied up at the wharf. The logships are just as able to load from one side as the other, so they would load the logs from the South of the city off barges on the seaward side and logs from the North of the city on the Port side.
We are not pretending that this would get all or even most of the heavy trucks off Rocks Rd, but it would get 35,000 of the most intimidating trucks off this road per annum, off Tahuna and Richmond roads without sending them the long way round over the hill and through the city to get to the Port.
We have yet to get uptake from either the Port or the City Council to undertake a more detailed investigation, but you can read our preliminary report below:
| barging_logs_nelsust__small_file__copy.pdf |
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Nelson Residents Association hear alternative Vision
to pushing the State Highway through Victory |
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WE NEED YOUR HELP
Please express your support for the Rocks Road Esplanade by writing letters to the editors of local papers and engage on social media. Every little outreach effort counts! If you are keen to be involved in hands-on stuff, please sign up to our email list or contact us through the contact button at the top of the page! |