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Meeting the transport needs of Queenstown’s rapidly growing population
Queenstown is one of New Zealand’s fastest growing regions
Population growth and tourism are putting increasing pressure on their transport system. For 140 days in 2019, the main route from Queenstown airport to the town centre was overcrowded, causing delays and congestion. Peak day residential population is forecast to grow from approx. 120,000 in 2018 to 200,000 in 2048.
There were fears locally that growing congestion issues would begin to damage the local economy by affecting Queenstown’s reputation as a premium global resort destination and a desirable place to live and work.
Making a shift to a more sustainable network
In 2018, in collaboration with Stantec and WSP, Abley began work on two business cases to provide more efficient, reliable access to the town, with a strong focus on improving Queenstown public transport and their walking and cycling network.
Project goals included:
- Reducing current reliance on private vehicles. Private cars make up 83% of trips on SH6A, the main route to Queenstown.
- Providing users with transport choices working towards 40% alternative mode share by 2028, meaning 40% of journeys are on public transport, on foot, or by bike.
- Sustainably managing growth and decoupling CO2 emissions from population growth.
- Making the transport network adaptable and scalable enough to respond to future uncertainties.
- Right sizing an investment narrative to secure funding from a range of stakeholders.
Balancing stakeholder needs
The project was not without its challenges. We were working within a complex urban environment. Cost and geotechnical constraints prohibit adding significant road capacity to SH6A between Frankton and Queenstown, which means working smarter with the space that exists.
The people of Queenstown are sick of delays and congestion on their roads. But any major transport infrastructure evolution is a delicate balance between stakeholder groups who may have competing desires and needs. We were working under intense public scrutiny, developing the programme of improvements in collaboration with stakeholders representing local iwi, businesses, and community groups.
Multi modal solutions for constrained transport corridors
Because of space constraints on the main corridors, a wide variety of multi-modal solutions were considered and costed, including a gondola, ferries, trams, and light rail.
The final recommended programme focused on the delivery of a high-capacity bus network. Once fully implemented, buses will operate every three minutes offering reliability, efficient travel time and cost savings. Buses will also be given appropriate priority on the roads, so they become a preferred way to travel around Queenstown. Trust in the public transport network is important if we want to encourage more people to choose it as their transport mode.
This investment in public transport is combined with improving provisions for pedestrians and cyclists. Simultaneously, Queenstown Lakes District Council will disincentivise the use of private vehicles through better parking management and prioritisation. We also recommended multi-purpose solutions to share road space such as loading bays that become mobility parks, then taxi bays.
Lessons learned
We learned three key lessons from this complex project and we’re sharing them here, for councils tackling similar challenging infrastructure projects.
Be sure of the wider context impacting on each corridor
Understanding the full picture avoids scope creep and ensures solutions are future proof and fit for purpose. Rapid expansion of Queenstown’s commercial, tourism and residential environment meant by the time Waka Kotahi, in partnership with Otago Regional Council and Queenstown Lakes District Council, went to market, the data informing their scope of work had already been superseded.
The population growth assumptions their traffic growth modelling was based on didn’t consider recent, astronomical population growth in the Whakatipu Basin. Population data from Statistics New Zealand was lagging behind the reality on the ground.
Once traffic modelling was redone with more accurate population data, we discovered that the demand on local infrastructure projected for 2048 would be reached 20 years sooner, by 2028. The scope of work was updated to address the new challenges faced.
Understand the local stakeholder environment
There may be constructive tension between competing stakeholder needs. Identify potential friction early, align key stakeholders’ expectations of the process from the start, and have a well-defined dispute resolution process to prevent any disagreements derailing the project.
It’s also important to give individual stakeholder groups information relevant to their requirements and communicate how projects will alleviate the climate emergency. People are aware of climate change, and keen to see positive steps to mitigate it.
Investigate other funding options
This project had an additional layer of complexity because Queenstown Lakes District Council were keen to build a town centre arterial bypass into their business case plans. Routing heavy traffic away from the town centre could open up development opportunities, as well as improving quality of life for local residents.
Despite the arterial bypass project delivering wider economic benefits, it did not meet Waka Kotahi’s strict transport funding requirements. As a result, the project team looked to a wider range of stakeholders to secure funding for the full project. Funding for the programme came from five sources including NZ Upgrade Programme and CIP.
If you find yourself in a comparable situation, investigate other funding options. For example, the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund and the Housing Acceleration Fund may fund transport projects, if it unlocks development. Also consider the economic, commercial and management components of business cases from the start, to help your partners ensure funding is earmarked in appropriate budgets.
Increasing corridor capacity while reducing emissions
When the project is fully implemented, Queenstown will see the following positive outcomes.
- A mode shift away from private vehicles means emissions are forecast to reduce by 15% between 2018 and 2048 despite the Queenstown population nearly doubling.
- Corridor capacity increases in excess of 100% on the most constrained parts of the network will allow the Queenstown area to continue to grow and flourish. This is estimated to unlock between $670M and $1.2 billion of economic growth.
- BRT based transport system, coupled with travel demand management measures, will improve travel times by over 20%, along with significant reliability improvements.
- Town centre improvements will enhance the built environment stimulating development.
- Safety and access improvements across the network.
Aspirational goals and complex technical challenges
“As the project got underway the Abley team very quickly became integrated into the wider project team using their specific skills to good effect. Abley’s strong existing relationships and their willingness to help the wider consortium team to act as one cohesive project team were particularly helpful. They were always mindful of delivering their elements of the project in a timely manner to ensure the project programme was not compromised.
“Abley’s performance was on this project was as I have come to expect from their team over many years of working together. They completed the tasks assigned to them by the consortium to a high quality and in a timely manner being mindful that many of the tasks they were undertaking were pre-requisite to many of the other consortium members work programmes.”
“They applied a high degree of technical expertise to the elements of the process that they were responsible for, in particular the transport modelling tasks and the development of the Queenstown Town Centre improvements which was probably one of the more challenging parts of the project.
“There were a number of complex technical challenges presented by this project, including the transport modelling and the Queenstown town centre improvements, for which Abley had the primary responsibility. These challenges were eventually overcome with some innovative thinking and iterative design processes with a resulting optimal outcome for all stakeholders.”
Get in touch
Designing multi-modal networks that balance the needs of road users, while encouraging more people to use sustainable transport modes, is one of our core areas of expertise. If you’d like to discus evolving your transport network for the changing needs of the 21st century contact us.