A Howick Local Board member has strongly questioned the estimated cost to build a new pedestrian crossing in east Auckland.
The board recently voted to request Auckland Transport (AT) to continue with traffic calming work at two sites on The Parade in Bucklands Beach.
Its members are allocating $350,000 to design and deliver the remaining sites of The Parade traffic calming project stage two.
Stage one of the work was delivered in late 2024 with the installation of a concrete raised pedestrian crossing near the intersection with Laings Road, three speed bumps between Laings Road and Whitcombe Road, and new line marking and street lighting.
The total approved budget for The Parade project is $601,350.
So far $446,031 has been spent, leaving an available budget of $155,319.
The board is allocating $150,000 of cost savings towards a new pedestrian facility in Cook Street, Howick, and pedestrian improvements in Kilimanjaro Drive, Northpark.
Prior to the vote, the board’s members were presented with a range of options of local projects that could be considered for funding, depending on what decisions they made relating to the work in Bucklands Beach.
One of the options was to allocate $350,000 toward a new pedestrian facility on Tiraumea Drive in Pakuranga, which the board previously identified as its next priority for transport capital funding.
Before the vote was held, board member David Collings questioned the $350,000 figure allocated for the potential Tiraumea Drive project.
“It’s not a hugely busy road,” he said.
“I’m not speaking against the project, but … I hope we’re not planning for some sort of raised table [crossing].
“I thought we’d gone away from those since our local Member of Parliament [Simeon Brown] was the Minister of Transport.
“$350,000, when the talk was, and even the mayor was concerned around the cost of the crossings, there was value around it, on average they were $138,000.
“Some were cheaper than that and obviously some were more expensive, but in this case I can’t see a road with this amount of traffic, how a pedestrian crossing could cost $350,000.”
The board’s AT elected member relationship partner Lorna Stewart replied that the costings put up are “fairly ballpark”.
“So instead of doing more detailed investigation into costing every project, we put up a number like this as a ballpark, and when we’ve done an investigation we can decide what fits best.”
Collings said he understood that and he’d been given the same explanation in a board workshop previously.
“I shouldn’t say ‘I don’t buy it’, but I struggle with that answer because I’m not sure what the numbers are, but if I can ask, in the last 12 months how many pedestrian crossings has Auckland Transport delivered?
“We should know the type and there should be comparisons. We should be able to compare like to like to some degree.”
AT senior traffic engineer Raman Singh then responded to Collings.
He said the Tiraumea Drive project “at this stage” is planned to be a raised zebra crossing and has been given a rough cost of $375,000.
“This is subject to what comes out of the investigation.
“After the investigation there might be other different options which the local board could choose to go with.”
Board chairperson Damian Light told the Times after the business meeting that as board voted to fund stage two of the safety improvements on The Parade, subject to public consultation, there were no available funds for the Tiraumea Drive project.
“It will sit on the potential list until funding is allocated, unlikely to be before July, 2026.”
