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Second Harbour Crossing is the name given to the proposed second transport link over the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. The second link would supplement the Auckland Harbour Bridge which is nearly at capacity and also provide more redundancy and added public transport linkages between Auckland City and North Shore City. It is sometimes also called the Third Harbour Crossing, as the Greenhithe Bridge also exists.〔(Govt: Auckland's third harbour crossing a priority ) (press release of the New Zealand Ministry of Transport, 2 December 2009. Accessed 2010-01-11.)〕 Discussed since shortly after the Auckland Harbour Bridge was first built (and quickly reached capacity before being widened), the proposed crossing has by now (2008) been narrowed down from around 160 alignment options to a multi-tunnel link somewhat east of the existing bridge. However, the project is at least a decade away from funding as of the late 2000s. The project itself would likely take between 5 and 15 years once started, according to the New Zealand Transport Agency. In late 2009, the current National government declared it a priority in the new 20-year infrastructure plan.〔 ==Background== Even at the time the clip-on additions to the Auckland Harbour Bridge were being installed in 1969, predictions already noted that the increased bridge capacity would last only until about 1985. Even with the clip-on sections and the traffic management in place, the Harbour Bridge was soon experiencing congestion during rush hours again. Various plans were proposed for a second link in the following decades, including one connecting from Meola Reef to Birkenhead, though the idea was abandoned in the 1970s after public outcry.〔 It was expected that traffic congestion would only get worse as North Shore City grew further, and Auckland City became more densely settled. Therefore, there was growing pressure for another harbour crossing. Many had also suggested that such reliance on a single asset (which might experience failure via an earthquake or other disaster) is not in the interests of either Auckland or New Zealand. However, a 2007 study by the Auckland Regional Council has shown that peak hour traffic volumes are actually down compared to early 1990s. The morning peak (from 7 am - 9 am) has dipped from 17,048 vehicles inbound (towards Auckland City) in 1991 to 16,032 vehicles in 2006 (though the opposing traffic did climb from 5,872 to 10,555 vehicles). At the same time, the afternoon peak (from 4 pm - 6 pm) has fallen from 17,092 vehicles outbound to 16,759 (though again, the opposing traffic rose substantially, from 6,944 to 10,991). This is generally attributed to travel demand management, to drivers avoiding peak hours, and to increased bus usage since the construction of the hugely successful Northern Busway - 40% of peak time passengers across the bridge are now carried by bus rather than cars. This has raised some doubts about whether a second crossing is actually necessary. Several projects either side of the bridge are also currently (2007) underway or planned to ensure that the motorway capacity on both sides matches that of the peak time capacity of the bridge (a factor which is considered by some to be more of a bottleneck than the bridge capacity itself),〔 and to enhance the attractiveness of public transport. These include the completed upgrade to the Central Motorway Junction, the consented Harbour Bridge to City Tunnel (Victoria Park Tunnel, which increased capacity between the Central Motorway Junction and the bridge by 50%) and the Northern Busway (which provides a bypass parallel to the Northern motorway as it approaches the bridge). The future timing of an additional harbour crossing may also be delayed by the completion of the Western Ring Road (a combination of upgraded and new motorway sections skirting the western edge of the harbour and suburbs), which will provide some relief for traffic travelling between the North Shore City and West Auckland. This route is expected to be completed by 2020 at the latest. At the moment, official political statements still conclude a second harbour crossing is to be delayed (though District Plans are a type of document that is updated at best once or twice every decade): :''The Auckland City Council will work with Transit New Zealand, the ARC, and the North Shore City Council to develop and implement measures, designed to optimise the future use of the existing Harbour Bridge and its approaches, for the peak period movement of people. This is to avoid or substantially delay the need to construct a second crossing of the Waitemata Harbour.''〔(Auckland City District Plan - Isthmus Section, Chapter 12.6.2.4 )〕 However, the current (2007) discussions about future traffic plans in Auckland, as well as for the Western Reclamation (an area where a proposed crossing alignment is to be anchored) have put the plans for a second crossing back into public discussion, though most of the plans would still envisage the actual construction to be one or two decades away. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Second Harbour Crossing, Auckland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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