From Bevan Woodward, SkyPath Trust
Council supports SkyPath:
Last week Council’s Strategy & Finance Committee voted to support Len Brown’s recommendation for Council staff to advance their work on SkyPath’s funding and delivery arrangements. This will then come back to Council for their consideration which if positive would enable SkyPath to be implemented.
Cost savings identified:
Beca Infrastructure have further analysed the bridge strengthening works required for SkyPath and, through an innovative solution, have significantly reduced the complexity and costs of this work. NZTA will now consider their financial contribution to these strengthening works.
The updated cost estimate (before NZTA’s contribution) is $30.5 million, this includes the landings at each end, special night lighting, security measures, observation decks and a contingency of $4 million.
Updated business case:
Auckland Transport has worked with Ernst & Young to update their business case. The low use/low growth patronage scenario now shows an overall surplus of circa $10 million. We are awaiting their figures for the high use/high growth patronage scenario.
Working with key stakeholders:
We have been in dialogue with the various stakeholder groups as we work on the detail of SkyPath’s landings at each end, see:
http://www.skypath.org.nz/project-status/consultation/
We have reviewed the Northcote Residents Association, St Marys Bay Association and Westhaven Marina Users Association’s submissions to Council which outlined why they are opposed to SkyPath. We believe that each of their concerns are addressed or can be resolved to enable SkyPath to proceed.
“SeaPath” to connect SkyPath to Takapuna:
Northcote Residents Association were keen for us to provide a seamless connection through to Takapuna so that there would be far fewer people using the streets of Northcote Point. Hence we developed “SeaPath” which is now with NZTA and Auckland Transport to develop, see:
http://www.skypath.org.nz/the-seapath/
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or feedback.
