http://thespinoff.co.nz/auckland/08-04-2017/a-ridiculous-road-to-the-past-the-east-west-connection/

Its worth reading the whole article - it illustrates the comlexity of
the whle issue of transport in Auckland - with some of that complexity
being also relevant to other centres. I cannot see any way of
simplifying considerations by eliminating either the NZ government or
local government, but within those tit should be possibl to eliminate conceptual silos around different modes of transport.

Effective transport in Auckland often appears to be trying to catch up
the mistakes of the past - the need for additional housing in Auckland
means that it is vital that development now also take into account new developments, and make those as easy as possible. The number of people movements is massive, and many of them are along regular routes moving
to and from work. To not consider rail and road at the same time is
bizarre, but not as bizarre as having different return on investment
criteria for different projects.

The combining of Auckland authorities has been a mess in many respects (particularly in relation to the Council controlled organisations
which appear to be, by design, largely out of control), but it has at
least enabled Auckland to address some transport issues on a total
Auckland basis. All projects should however have financial impacts
assessed on a consistent basis, and as far as possible both updated as conditions change, and publicised so everyone knows both teh
commitment and the relative returns from different projects.

Good on Simon Wilson - this is the sort of analytical journalism that
we are seeing less of - an impressive piece of work that I am sure
better informs most who read it.

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