Government scraps $785m cycle and walking bridge across Auckland harbour
The Government has scrapped a proposed $785 million cycling and walking bridge in Auckland, just months after unveiling it.
The bold project had been widely criticised, even by cycling advocates, many of whom considered it an overkill solution to providing cycle and walking links across the Waitematā Harbour.
The money saved will be spent on other transport projects, leaving the future of cycling access from the North Shore to the CBD again uncertain.
Of course this stupid idea has been scrapped, it had become an art installation called ‘Winning National the election’ but the question remains how the fuck did Labour get spooked into this and will they resist it during the Hate Speech Law?
Labour were spooked into announcing this bullshit kneejerk policy because David Slack led angry white middle class cyclists from the shore across the bridge and David and his militant woke cycling chums are all mates with Labour MPs and Green MPs on Twitter and they are also friends with the MPs partners (some of whom are militant cyclists themselves) and they all attacked Labour and demanded blah blah blah.
In short the woke spooked Labour into a policy decision that was designed to calm woke rage rather than develop sound social policy, that it’s taken them this long to backtrack is embarrassing for Labour but it’s also deeply concerning that they can be bullied into dumb ideas by their woke acolytes.
This bodes very poorly for Labour in the looming hate speech legislation because the threshold of hate for your average wokester is being white with a penis. If Labour get bullied by the Woke into accepting a deplorably low threshold it will open up a purge by the woke who will immediately start dobbing in any speech they feel is hateful to the Police.
If Labour can be bullied into promising $800million for a bike bridge from just one David Slack protest, imagine how quickly Labour will fold to a full woke Twitter lynch mob on hate speech.
Hilariously the only public transport element of dumping this bike bridge was Michael Wood being thrown under a bus.
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Good news for the 99% of sensible NZ’ders. Bad news for Ngati Paoa.
The government want to bulldoze through our Pa site, Mokoia and the urupa, in Panmure. So the lazy fucks from the east can drive across town to the CBD instead of catching a bus from their side of town and get on the motorway from there to the CBD. Wankas!
Hongi Hiki bulldozed you first
Sure. And then we utu’d them back to Whangarei and Kaikohe a few years later and that’s where they have remained ever since.
Agree Martyn
On a day like this you have to feel for Simon Wilson. Then you start laughing and don’t stop till it hurts.
Michael Wood is going to way of Twyford and Woods. Another minister that is all ‘hui’ and not alot of ‘doey’.
This has been the worst week for the government since the election. Problem is next week looms as worse as they will have to accept elimination, sorry “stamp it out” has failed as covid has spread to the regions.
I wonder if the prime minister likes her shit sandwich warmed or at room temperature. John Key suddenly is the least of her concerns.
Agree Frank the Tank but you could have left the sandwich bit out.
No I think shit sandwich is pretty much accurate. Don’t worry John, they will spin and bullshit their way out of it. They’ll tell it’s all part of the plan (that doesn’t exist).
I’m still laughing at this Frwankie…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/the-big-read-where-are-northlands-bridges/UQ5XCJZOLOGGQWA7AZMZNXS7KQ/
Kinda like Kiwibuild isn’t it Bertie
Or a “brighter future” Frwankie.
With luck they will be frighten out of pushing through 3 Waters 60 out of 67 councils are against it. When you cannot win over a Labour leaning council like Chch which are 100 per cent against the plan then you really are on a sticky wicket.
Still the only first world city with no cycle or pedestrian access across the harbour and what a bone headed idea to unveil as a solution.
Makes you really wonder about the IQ of these numb skulls. I used to think it was just bureaucracy or red tape, but they really are super thick.
I saw people with bicycles crossing the harbour on the Devonport Ferry. Those on the ferry with no bicycles were pedestrians. So there is access across the harbour for those car challenged people.
If you are so desperate to cross the harbour how about you buy a ferry and run a bicycle shuttle from Bayswater to Westhaven? Be entrepreneurial. I can see the company name emblazoned in lights “Festus Ferries”. How Fullers Ferries started.
Mind you when you do due diligence on the Fetus Ferry project you may find the volume of riders wanting to cross the harbour so few that it does not warrant further investigation.
Ummm. Agree re bridge madness. So let’s see, the ‘woke’ are now defined as white males (and females, especially those married to MPs, although those may be males too), who ride bicycles and hate (“threshold for hate”) white people with penises. Honestly, Martyn, your frantic woke discourse is very difficult to understand at times. Who are these people?
Liz and MArtyn
That news about the no-more bridge was very distressing for the 27,825 cyclists who wanted to cross the bridge this morning in the pissing rain. Many of them tradies with 4x2s strapped across their shoulders. My sarcastic cost-to-benefit statistic just underlines how stupid the whole idea was, as if that bridge would have us all suddenly cycling across the harbour – mostly in the wind and the rain? no thanks. And everyone wants to decentralise anyway and not work in the inner city! Which brings me to the Inner City Fail Project, no let’s not go there. Anyway, we always take the ferry across on weekends when we ride around the city. Never had a problems with too many bikers wanting to be on the ferry. There’s always room on any ferry.
Time to really protest https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/02-10-2021/a-delta-health-crisis-thrives-when-it-meets-a-crisis-in-housing-and-poverty/
I cant recall any political blog or political commentator who truely believed this cycle bridge was seriously going to be built, from the day it was announced everyone seemed to be of the same opinion that it was just words and doubtful of completion.
Is anyone truely surprised its been cancelled?
When the Skybridge was deemed unfeasible from an engineering perspective, Labour had a chance to walk away from the proposal. But Labour were now a majority government and needed to change perceptions on their ability to deliver. The problem was not only that the new solution unpalatable, but it was announced at a time when the fairness of public-sector pay freeze decisions were being debated. When Labour played the COVID card, it was to restrict pay increases for nurses, not to postpone ideas of habour-crossings for cyclists and pedestrians. Now Labour has not only failed to deliver on a transport promise, but has managed to get on the wrong side of public opinion along the way.
The concern is that our resource consent system is so broken, they were able to obtain a resource consent, and start importing in staff from overseas, even though it was not feasible as the bridge was already old and breaking apart.
On a similar note,
I guess someone needs to work out that consenting houses for example in flood plains or likely to cause flooding to others in the future, is not helping our housing crisis, because nobody can live in flooded houses and it is very disruptive.
If we look at Auckland we have had record floods in West Auckland, South Auckland and Kumeu that is taking existing houses out of circulation, so building new ones in incorrect places like on flood plains, in the hope they get sold quickly and the risk is put on the insurance companies and councils should not be allowed.
There should be a lot more liability on the developer who is pushing through poor applications and the council consenting process should make the developer and their consenting staff (planner and engineer) guarantee the entire build for 10 years and not be able to liquidate and do their next project leaving the risks to others.
At the moment clearly easy to get engineers to sign off applications, that are not liable or flood! Everything is possible, but is it a good use of time and resources and worth the risks, in the age of carbon emissions and climate change, should be the question?
Sadly Labeen are getting further and further out of touch if they think the bike lane was a big deal.What is causing big anger is the free speech legislation and the 3 waters. They are sacrificing the wrong lamb.
It is especially enraging that they focus on grabbing more central and police power with free speech legislation and the 3 waters, after the travesty of their failed Kiwibuild, rental and housing policies that are tripling emergency housing while scapegoating ‘mums and Dads’ who use to rent properties (now they have to rent to the state instead apparently or buy a new build, more layers of control)and now 3 waters, after polluting the waters themselves with poor environmental policy aka ‘roads, roads, roads, build, build, build, turn a blind eye to industry like Rio Tinto waste, and now making a grab for more central power for water. Nobody likes it.
Then there is free speech legislation when they are criminalising peoples right to speak out, while giving donations and MIQ places and NZ residency to criminals and gang members. Another murder yesterday with an axe, more shootings, instead of our government doing something about it, they criminalise free speech! Crazy, lack of out of touch woke led behaviour.
David Slack certainly didn’t ask for, or want, this ridiculous bridge. Here’s his response it it being scrapped:-
“ They are scrapping the grandiose thing no-one asked for. And they continue to ignore the actual request:
Please permanently allocate a lane of the existing bridge for bikes.
That’s it. That’s all it needs. That’s all we’re asking for and it’s not at all out of the ordinary. ”
https://subslack.substack.com/p/what-kind-of-transformational-government?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo0NDc4OTQ3LCJwb3N0X2lkIjo0MjA3NzU0MCwiXyI6IjVQcTNGIiwiaWF0IjoxNjMzMzAwMDEwLCJleHAiOjE2MzMzMDM2MTAsImlzcyI6InB1Yi00MDA3MyIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.-Fl53CY7XSUXAE6u2zUCnGAjtaV_CMU6lvEEu9dXfR4
In fact there is excellent access for bikes from the North Shore: There is an under utilized ferry service that can accommodate bikes that leaves from Northcote Point.
One thing that we can all be happy with. From here on in. The gweens are dog tucker at the next election!
They always over poll before elections by 4 to 5 per cent. The yoof vote cant save them, it didn’t happen at the last election neither because the total yoof vote only increase by 1.9% overall. Split that a dozen ways….they robbed labours weak underbelly which won’t happen in 2023. No more vote splitting!
Other than the lycra mob and the mental yoof vote, they got nothing going for them this time around.
Michael Wood was thrown under a bus!
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