Simeon Brown's fanaticism kills Warkworth intersection fix
I grew up in Warkworth, and the infamous Hill Street intersection has been an issue not just my whole life, but for decades before I was even born. My dad told me stories of how, back in the 80s, he'd set up seats overlooking the intersection and sit watching the chaos of people trying to navigate it.
I've seen frustrated people stuck in traffic pull off dangerous maneuvers to try and get through. I've seen near misses and collisions. And I've walked the footpaths (or lack thereof).
As a local you end up learning how to navigate that intersection, and for me it was the same. When I was learning to drive, I was taught the specific ways to get through that are easier and less dangerous, which I still remember even now I've moved away to the city centre of Auckland.
It's been called the 'worst intersection' in the country', and it very much deserves that reputation. As One Mahurangi Business Association manager Murray Chapman describes it:
"If you can imagine an intersection designed by somebody going through emotional turmoil. There's five roads leading into it. Some people bully their way through. Some people will sit at the give-way signs for what seems like hours because they're too scared to go anywhere."
Despite the completion of the Matakana Link Road and the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway in June 2023 (which has reportedly reduced traffic through here by half), this complicated intersection is still a huge problem for everyone who uses it. And it will only get worse as the local population grows.
Thankfully, a solution was found, led by and with the community (at great effort and time), and this is what is (or was) about to be implemented at last by Auckland Transport, after years of back and forth:
So when news broke that, after decades of going in circles (as we wrote over 10 years ago on this very blog), this construction-ready community-led design has had its funding pulled by NZTA, meaning the project is effectively cancelled – it's safe to say the local community is furious.
Why was the agreed-upon design cancelled at the last minute?
This is a direct result of the Minister of Transport Simeon Brown's crusade against safe streets and cycleways. His Government Policy Statement on transport essentially forbids NZTA from co-funding any multi-modal designs, especially if they include safety elements for walking, cycling, rolling and scooting, and even if communities want them.
When asked about the cancellation, the minister's response was flippant:
Transport Minister Simeon Brown said Auckland Transport's design for upgrades of the Hill Street intersection included at least five new speed bumps and three sections of cycleway.
That did not align with the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport, or his expectation that investment in transport infrastructure would get back to basics.
"If Auckland Transport wish to advance this project, they will need to rework the design for the intersection to better align with the GPS and then re-submit it to NZTA for consideration of co-funding."
Brown said the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway extension and the new Matakana Link Road had also significantly reduced pressure on the Hill Street intersection.
This high-handed rebuff of community aspiration has left many in Warkworth fuming:
Dave Stott, who co-chairs the One Mahurangi Transport and Infrastructure Forum with MP Chris Penk, said he was "extremely disappointed".
"We were appalled by the minister's comments about having to redesign the intersection with particular reference to cycling and pedestrian access, given that we've had a process of design engagement with Auckland Transport and NZTA … In fact, we felt insulted."
You have to wonder: will the local MP go into bat on behalf of the community, as he promised to in 2020?
But I want to be clear for everyone. This cancellation is a direct result of the Minister's overreaching agenda, as enabled by this coalition government.
It was cancelled because, under the Minister's policy, it's too safe. Because it includes what he calls "speed bumps" – in fact, raised crossings, an internationally accepted design for safe and equitable access.
It was cancelled because this Minister doesn't care about the safety of people walking and cycling, and has detailed as much in his GPS, in direct contravention of what communities want.
It was cancelled even though Warkworth expects thousands of new residents in coming years. This Minister apparently doesn't think their kids should have safe connected routes from home to school.
It was cancelled despite the local community having worked for years with AT and NZTA to design and develop a scheme that people wanted - everything Simeon purports to champion. So much for 'localism', as the war on Auckland continues.
This is what happens when your politicians are more concerned about ideological purity than actual people: they make up issues that are divorced from reality, and leave communities in the lurch.
Keep in mind that Warkworth is traditionally a National stronghold – having a solution snatched away, after decades of delay and failed attempts. Led and progressed by, and with, the community – then cancelled, because one Minister personally doesn't care about safety and is somehow triggered by cycleways.
How many more millions will be spent redesigning this project to suit this one Minister's conceit? How many more years will this take? What does that mean for safety in the meantime? And how lethal will the redesign need to be before this Minister will approve it? What if he's not even the Minister any more, after Warkworth has been put through a whole stupid process all over again, just to please him?
Why does the Minister hate locals walking, biking, kids getting around independently... and congestion-free roads?
As well as delaying safety for drivers at this notoriously crash-ridden intersection, the Minister's footpath fatwa is damaging for anyone in Warkworth who was looking forward to being able to walk or bike into the township.
The Hill Street upgrade, as well as simplifying driving movements and reducing crash risks, would have created a continuous connection of four kilometres of safe walking and biking path, all the way from all the new developments in the north, past the local primary school, and as far as Mahurangi College (the local high school, which currently has a roll of 1300).
Up to 10,000 more people are expected to move into the area north of the intersection. Because of Simeon Brown's cancellation, hundreds, if not thousands, of children and parents will be prevented from being able to walk and bike safely to the local primary and high schools.
How much more congestion will there be, when all these people are forced to drive back and forth twice a day to and from school?
And it's not just about children's access and safety. Co-chair of the One Mahurangi Transport and Infrastructure Forum Dave Stott sums up how frustrating this abrupt cancellation is, on many levels:
"This process has been going on now for about six years. We've had a number of our own engineers working side by side with the engineers at Auckland Transport to come up with what we believe to be the most economic and most effective design for that intersection."
Stott, a former roading engineer, said a raft of groups and government agencies had been involved in coming up with an integrated transport plan for the town that took into account the needs of motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and public transport.
The cycleways had been designed to link up with cycleways planned by three new housing developments in the Hill Street area - Arvida, the Kilns project and Templeton - as well as with the Matakana Coastal Trail.
"So what we are doing is tying in to a network proposed by a number of other parties, but also taking account of the fact that there's probably going to be up to 10,000 people living in the northeast of Warkworth in future.
"They, in particular school kids, are going to have to come through that intersection, because all the schools are to the west or the south.
"So we're looking at huge safety issues for schoolchildren and cyclists to get in to Warkworth," Stott said.
While it was true the number of vehicles using the intersection had fallen since the motorway extension had been completed, Stott said projections showed that once the three housing developments had been built, traffic volumes would be even higher than they had been pre-motorway.
This intersection has been a problem my entire life. It has been a problem all of Simeon Brown's life. It has been the all-encompassing transport mess in Warkworth for decades.
Just when it finally felt there was a solution in sight, it was snatched away by a Minister of Transport who seems to care more about his own personal crusade against safety and people on bikes than he does about building a transport system that works for everyone.
Where to from here?
This Warkworth project is just one of dozens, maybe hundreds around the country that the Minister has scuttled with his war on safety – to the dismay of locals who've worked hard and campaigned for smart, multi-modal fixes that work for everyone. For example, here's a list of safe crossings on state highways – which communities begged for, and which the minister summarily cancelled in his first few months on the job.
Hill Street just puts a very human face on the scale of these losses around the country. We'll continue to see sensible projects delayed and cancelled until we get a more sensible and less ideological Minister.
In the meantime, we'll continue to spend millions more dollars, and waste precious years of our lives, redesigning and re-consenting all manner of local projects that happen to include raised tables and cycleways. (Meanwhile, billion dollar mega-projects like RoNs will escape any kind of meaningful scrutiny.)
And, while communities wait for the politics to play out, the issues that trouble them won't go away. There will continue to be crashes, and congestion will grow, and kids will be buckled into cars for short trips in their neighbourhoods – and anyone who might prefer the option of walking or biking now and then is out of luck.
All to satisfy one out-of-touch minister's notions of what matters.
When things like this happen, it's really important to take notice of why, and to put the focus on who has made this call.
One thing I do know is that the community in Warkworth is certainly taking notice of what's happening, and will not be taking this lying down.
I didn't think he could get any worse, but there you go.... How will Chris Penk front on this to his local constituency. Simeon probably just lost him a huge amount of support in his electorate in one foul swoop.