City Vision’s Graeme Easte represented the Western Bays area over many years most recently serving on the Albert-Eden Local Board area until his retirement from local government at the last election in 2022. Graeme has an extensive archive of knowledge about the local area and the proposals that have come and gone over the years. Here he expands on his letter to the editor (NZ Herald 16 September 2024) in response to Mayor Wayne Brown’s proposal for a “free” second harbour bridge between Pt Chevalier and the North Shore.
The Mayor’s Meola Reef bridge idea is nuts
Mayor Wayne (I’m an engineer you know) Brown is wildly astray with his promotion of a new harbour bridge founded on top of Te Tokaroa Meola Reef. What he obviously does not realise is that the reef consists of a layer of basalt rock just 5-10 metres thick resting on 60 metres of gloop – very soft marine sediments with negligible bearing strength. Any structure constructed here would require a lot of very deep piles resting on the bedrock far beneath.
So rather than the narrowest part of the harbour as he imagines, the reef is actually located at one of the widest parts. In addition to the 3.8 km crossing from Kauri Point to Meola Road, his bridge would require about 10 km of new motorway through suburbs like Birkenhead, Glenfield and Point Chevalier, trashing hundreds of homes and hectares of parkland in its way.
This idea is not new, having been suggested and rejected several times over the last 50 years. In the early 70s the Auckland Harbour Bridge Authority investigated numerous possible routes for a second harbour crossing, before settling on a lengthy causeway above Te Tokaroa Meola Reef leading to a kilometre long bridge ramping up to Kauri Point. Release of their report in 1974 set off a storm of protest from residents of affected suburbs and soon sank without trace.
Two decades later it was revived as one of 36 crossing options investigated by the Auckland Regional Land Transport Committee, but did not make their shortlist in 1997. Another decade later came the Northern Corridor Steering Group which looked at 160 potential routes and again culled thoughts of a bridge over Te Tokaroa Meola Reef. More recently Waka Kotahi NZTA has done more work on a new crossing over or under the harbour, but mercifully Te Tokaroa Meola Reef was ruled out from the outset.
Every few years various North Shore MPs (such as George Gair and Ian Revell) have attempted to revive the Te Tokaroa Meola Reef concept but their advocacy has not been taken seriously by the public or by regional or national transport planning bodies.
Any bridge at this location would destroy the reef – an exceptional ecological feature. Although the base of the reef was used for many years as a quarry and then as the municipal dump, most of it has survived as a record of Auckland’s volcanic heritage. The reef–a significant historical mahinga kai site–is Auckland’s longest lava flow (stretching 11km from Tītīkōpuke Mount Saint John), and a unique habitat for marine life in the Waitematā. It should not be sacrificed.
Further reading
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s proposed second harbour bridge may cost billions, expert says (NZ Herald)