Whangarei to Auckland transport links

Between COVID19 and a very wet 2023, the transport links between Northland and the rest of the country have suffered from major disruptions. They simply are not resilient. This post is the start of an examination of the problems and some of the possible solutions. It will be edited as I add more material but let's start with SH1.

I will also look at the months-long failure of the rail link, the proposals to build a rail link to the port at Marsden Point and move Whangarei airport, and an interesting new proposal for a ground-effect service along the coast called Ocean Flyer.

Before the Labour Government was elected, its National Party predecessor had promised a four-lane highway.

The current SH1 four laneing has now reached north to Warkworth with the recent opening of a new road north from Puhoi. This was part of the previous Government's Roads of National Significance (RoNs) programme.

At the same time work has been done to improve the safety of the existing section of SH1 between Warkworth and Wellsford.

But what was investigated before the change of Government in 2017? There is still information on the NZ Transport Agency web site about what might have involved a major rerouting of SH1, avoiding both Dome Valley and the Brynderwyn Hill. See, for example, the August 2017 Programme Business Case: https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/projects/whangarei-to-te-hana/Whangarei-to-Auckland-PBC.pdf

Information about the current work programme is available from the NZTA web page on Connecting Northland: https://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/connecting-northland/