Birkenhead Avenue T3 Lane and pedestrian crossing

John Gillon from

From Monday 18th October to Monday 22nd November, Auckland Transport will be installing a new T3 lane on Birkenhead Ave between Recreation Drive and Zion Road, and a signalised mid-block pedestrian crossing near Waratah Street.
This proposal was consulted on in March 2019, and after concerns were raised about the T3 ending too close to Onewa Road, it has been pulled back to just before Zion Road.

Once completed, the T3 lane will be operative from 6:30-10:00AM Monday-Friday.

More info: at.govt.nz...

The project includes:
* Creation of a 400m South-bound T3 lane on Birkenhead Ave from Recreation Drive to Zion Road.
* Installation of a signalised mid-block pedestrian crossing to the North of Warratah St.
* Removal of existing pedestrian crossing outside 147 Birkenhead Ave.
* Changes to the lane configuration on approach to the Onewa Rd intersection to support the transit lane.
* Relocation of bus stop from outside 98 Birkenhead Ave to outside Birkenhead War Memorial Park.
* Installation of broken yellow lines along the western kerb from 80 to 90 Birkenhead Ave, as there won’t be sufficient road width to accommodate on-street parking.
* Removal of broken yellow lines outside 147 and 149 Birkenhead Ave.

A brief history of the project:
* March 2019: AT goes out for public consultation on the T3 lane, blindsiding the Kaipātiki Local Board and MP Dan Bidois, as the project had never been mentioned in numerous transport discussions.
* March 2019: MP Dan Bidois launches a petition against the T3 lane and gains over 1000 signatures.
* April 2019: The Kaipātiki Local Board gives conditional support for the plan, as long as two changes are made: That the general lane and the T3 lane both continue around the corner onto Onewa Rd so that vehicles aren't forced to merge prior to the intersection, AND that a clearway is installed along the new T3 lane outside of T3 hours.
* May 2019: The Kaipātiki Local Board is informed by AT that they had considered 4 other options to reconfigure the intersection and provide a much better outcome that would allow the T3 lane to connect into the Onewa Rd T3 lane, but had not put them out for consultation or advised the Kaipātiki Local Board before it gave feedback. Instead it had consulted on a cheaper solution with worse outcomes. See: www.stuff.co.nz...
* November 2020: AT confirms that the T3 is going ahead with minor changes around Zion Rd, subject to funding.
* September 2021: AT confirms that funding is confirmed and that construction will begin on 18 October 2021.