Better provision for all forms of transport in Auckland’s east from Manukau city centre in the south to Glen Innes in the north, is long overdue.

Clogged roads and historic under-investment in passenger transport mean residents and employees in the area have few alternatives to using a car for their everyday trips.

• Uptake of passenger transport in the area is half the average in Auckland.
• Significant roads in the area are already at or above their capacity.
• The narrow corridors across the Tamaki River (Pakuranga and Panmure bridges) carry nearly as many vehicles as the harbour bridge (110,000 vehicles per day).
• Mt Wellington Highway has numerous intersections operating above capacity.
• 50,000 vehicles a day enter the Panmure roundabout, and disperse to other destinations (equivalent to the one-way flow on the northern motorway at Tristram Avenue). Similar traffic volumes pass through the Pakuranga town centre.
• Local residential roads, such as Tripoli Road, carry inappropriate levels of traffic past community facilities such as schools and recreational reserves.
• Trips by cycling and walking are low. The area has a low uptake of walking school buses and workplace travel plans, for instance. There is a lack of cycling facilities on main roads.
• The accident rate in the area is high.

The result is severe congestion, heavy traffic using residential streets and unacceptable costs for businesses whose vehicles and deliveries are delayed.

Particularly disadvantaged are older people, young people, or those who do not want to drive or cannot afford a car.

Forecast population increases and business growth in the area are also significant.

• The planned public and private investment in the Tamaki Edge (Glen Innes, Panmure, Mt Wellington and Sylvia Park) area is estimated at $3 billion.
• By 2050, an additional 440,000 residents will be living in Auckland.
• 70,000 new residents and 30,000 new jobs are expected in the Auckland-Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative (AMETI) study area over the next 20 years.

Without AMETI, the business and job growth expected in the area may not be fully realised.

AMETI focuses on identifying and planning a transport system that connects people and places in Auckland's eastern suburbs (that is, east of the southern motorway between Glen Innes and Manukau’s city centre) and improving connections from the area to the rest of the region.

Given the current congestion and projected growth in the area, the AMETI proposal is essential. It also complements decisions already made in the area through:

• The Regional Growth Strategy
• The Regional Passenger Transport Network Plan
• The Regional Cycle Plan
• Planning by Auckland City Council and Manukau City Council for the area