The Basin Reserve: do you want Flyovers with that?

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I can’t believe that people are seriously thinking about this awful proposal. There is a meeting next week to organise a group against this throwback to the 1950s, at St Joseph’s church, on 25th November. Read more about it here. Meantime, those that are in favour (hands up Mayor Kerry and the Transit crew), should ponder this: Newmarket viaduct in Auckland has been transporting cars overhead since 1965, and is about to be enlarged via a total rebuilding, at massive cost, to achieve a single extra lane.

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Recently the bridge has come under criticism about the fact that debris flies off the viaduct to busy Newmarket below, seismic susceptibility and that the bridge has been separating in sections to create wide gaps.

Hmm, not so good then. A mere 40 years on, its chocka, and falling down.

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It’s also worth considering the Victoria Park Viaduct, which, like the proposed Basin Reserve Viaduct, cuts right across the Park. Again, there are problems with the viaduct, and it is being proposed to be ‘undergrounded’ – over time, with part now, and part in another lifetime. Again with a relevant quote:

The Victoria Viaduct comes under criticism because of how ugly it looks, the lack of stopping space, its traffic capacity and its safety. Numerous accidents have happened; such as vehicles driving through the barriers and into Victoria Park below and the risk of a single crash causing Auckland’s motorway system to turn to chaos.

Hmmm, so again: perhaps these overhead motorways are not such a good idea. Apart from the fact that they create noise, rip the city in two, ruin historic reserves set in basins, etc, they also look ugly as sin and: things fall off. Like trucks.

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If the city is really going to do a flyover, then it needs to get a decent bridge designer in, perhaps like Calatrava or the french engineers of the Millau Viaduct, and ensure there are some really good side barriers built in.

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However, there really is no need to build a flyover, when an underground route below the basin would be simply achieved, and less obstructive for the city. Or the simplest answer of all: no more roads. It really doesn’t solve anything. Last picture today, is of another popular public figure with a penchant for road-building: turning the first sod.

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