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Transport issues continue to dominate media commentary in Auckland. As long as the debate remains a stand-off between the advocates of "more motorways" and of "no more motorways", then nothing much will be resolved.

The principles that I want to emphasise are that Auckland should make best use of whatever transport infrastructure it already has, and that the future shape of Auckland will be determined by the sequence in which transport infrastructure projects are completed. Thus the debate should not simply be about congestion relief; it's about designing 21st century Auckland.

Mayor John Banks talks about giving Auckland an expensive "triple by-pass". I would imagine, however, that most people with arterial congestion would prefer an immediate single bypass operation, than to wait years for the luxury of a triple.

The project that matters most is the practical completion (ie completion to at least Great North Road) of the SH20 motorway. This route is so important because it will define the industrial and employment landscape of Auckland for the remaining century. Rather than being a commuter link between suburb and city, it will be a road that connects many existing employment-rich destinations, and will help to create several more.

The Green movement will do well to support the western arterial concept, because, once the SH20/16/18 link is complete, there will be no reason to build other motorways.

We need neither an eastern motorway nor a new harbour bridge/tunnel. We appear to need a new harbour crossing only because of congestion on the southern motorway that would be better relieved by the western by-pass. The new route will not only relieve Spaghetti Junction. It will create the conditions whereby a markedly increased proportion of future journeys will be to destinations served by (and economically stimulated by) the road that makes them possible.

I am disturbed at suggestions that the next leg of the incomplete SH20 motorway (Hillsborough to New Windsor) might be tolled.

A user charge may help to fund a public good that would otherwise not be built. But, if SH20 has a toll while Spaghetti Junction does not, then we will be sending precisely the wrong signal to motorists. We want people travelling between the south and the west (and ultimately, between the south and the north) to choose SH20 as a substitute for SH1. It is a textbook economic conclusion that user charges on an uncongested public good are economically inefficient.

There is a good case for a commuter toll on SH1, however. People who choose to live in North Shore City while commuting to destinations south or east of the central business district (CBD) create much of Auckland's congestion problem. Their choice of place to reside creates substantial third-party costs ("externalities") that are born by the Greater Auckland public.

The textbook remedy for negative externalities is to impose an indirect tax as a way of discouraging activities that impose costs on others. An incidental feature of such "deterrent" taxes is that they raise revenue.

A 7am-9am electronic toll placed on SH1 between Cook Street off-ramp and the Hobson Street on-ramp could effectively give the message that certain commuting choices impose excessive third party costs, while helping to fund the completion of an untolled SH20.

Greater Auckland is very fortunate in that a large amount of public land at Whenuapai will soon become available for development. Already, as Andrew Hiskens reported in the Herald of 22 November, "land supply for commercial and industrial developments on the North Shore is dwindling while prices rocket".

Whenuapai is perfectly placed to benefit from the ongoing industrial/commercial growth of North Shore City. Once the SH20/SH16 link is practically complete, Whenuapai will also have excellent transport connections to Auckland's west and south, including Mangere Airport. The growth of employment opportunities in North Shore, combined with new employment-rich zones in northern Waitakere could significantly reorient the commuter and commercial traffic flows that presently suffocate Auckland. Further, Whenuapai, unlike North Shore, has nationwide rail access (via Kumeu).

Whenuapai could become a "new Penrose", with Penrose itself becoming an ideal location for high density residential housing. With the industrialisation of northern Waitakere and the deindustrialisation of Penrose, Auckland's isthmus would become New Zealand's principal centre for international services, while the semi-orbital route - from Drury through Mangere and Waitakere to Silverdale - would become Auckland's clean and modern industrial/commercial nexus.

There remains one key issue. Unlike most western cities, it has not been geographically practical for Auckland to shift its container port from the CBD. As we are all shareholders in the port, it is important to Aucklanders that our port continues to thrive.

The proposed Eastern Motorway is too extravagant a solution to the port's transport needs. My suggested solution is to modify the eastern (main trunk) rail line into a "portway"; a single-track rail line, combined with a 2-lane road (one lane each way) for trucks and buses only. An interchange in Mt Wellington would enable the road part of the portway to interchange with the existing south-eastern arterial.

An eastern portway could enable fast buses to travel directly from places like Albany (via the still unbuilt North Shore busway) through Britomart to Pakuranga and Botany. North-south commuters would have a way to avoid Spaghetti Junction.

The rapid completion of SH20 (and upgrade of SH18), the commercial development of Whenuapai as a viable destination for North Shore and Waitakere commuters, the improvement of Auckland's southern and western rail links, and the conversion of the eastern rail corridor into a portway will, I believe, be all that Auckland needs to become a viable twenty-first century city of 1.5 to 2 million people with a quality of life and environment that is second to none.
 

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