In cooperation with Auckland Council and Papakura Local Board, we’re planning a set of practical changes along one of the busiest parts of Great South Road – between Manuroa Road and Glenora Road – to help traffic keep moving and make journeys safer and more reliable for everyone.

Project overview

Great South Road is the main way people travel around and through Takanini. Whether you’re travelling to work, school, the shopping centre, the train stations, or the motorway, this busy corridor is most likely a critical part of your journey.

Takanini is growing fast, and congestion is already a daily frustration for many people. Opening City Rail Link will mean more trains, shorter journey times, and it will be easier to connect with people and places. Replacing level crossings with safer connections is a key part of making it happen and allowing even more trains to run in the future. If we don't replace level crossings, people may take more risks as barrier arms are down more often and there will be increased congestion, impacting economic productivity.

New vehicle and walking and cycling bridges are planned for Takanini, but they won’t be built straight away. If we do nothing in the meantime, the roads around the rail crossings will get congested more often, creating more disruption and delays on Great South Road.

This project will give Great South Road more room to handle the traffic impacts of trains running more often through the rail crossings. It buys time for Takanini while the bridge projects are delivered. It creates safer, more reliable and better-quality journeys for everyone, whether they're travelling by car, bus, bike or on foot. Finally, it ensures this important corridor is ready for the future as the area continues growing and thriving.

Our proposed plan

We'll deliver the project in two stages:

Stage 1 (before City Rail Link opens)

Road space changes to give traffic more room to move along the corridor:

• Remove all on-road cycle lane markings and install “no stopping at all times” broken yellow lines along sections of Great South Road that are currently used for parking.
• Update the lane markings for two continuous traffic lanes for northbound traffic (towards SH1 motorway) from Graham Road to Manuroa Road and for southbound traffic (away from SH1 motorway) from Manuroa Road to Glenora Road.
• Remove the two bus stops (IDs 2736 and 2773) on Great South Road near Beach Road. This will make way for additional bus stop changes we’re making in Stage 2 that will help buses move at more consistent timetables for customers.

Stage 2 (after City Rail Link opens)

Build new off-road walking and cycling paths to replace the old on-road cycle lanes

To do this, we’ll widen and resurface some footpaths to create a shared path for walking, cycling, and scooting. In other places, we’ll resurface road shoulders and berms to create off-road cycle lanes next to the footpaths.

Extend broken yellow lines on the approaches to some busy intersections and side streets

We'll place these where they directly connect with Great South Road. This will give drivers more unobstructed space to see pedestrians and cyclists crossing the street.

Relocate the two bus stops near Taka Street intersection (IDs 2532 and 2537) further south down Great South Road

The new locations will be closer to Graham Road, closer to shops, restaurants, and other key destinations.

Install new improvements around the Maru Road and Great South Road intersection

New features will include:

• A new signalised crossing for cyclists and pedestrians north of Maru Road. The crossing will be push-button activated, so traffic on Great South Road will only stop when people need to cross. It will assist pedestrians reaching the bus stops and pedestrians and cyclists travelling to the nearby train station.
• Moving the bus stop currently located on Manuroa Road (ID 2534) closer to this intersection. This bus stop is currently an indented stop. We'll move it so that it’s just north of the Maru Road intersection, putting it closer to the new signalised crossing. We'll repurpose the indented area at the old stop into spaces for parking so that people who really need to park on Great South Road can do so out of the way of general traffic.
• Upgrading the existing bus stop in front of St Aidan's Reserve (ID 2539) with more space and more accessible features like yellow tactile pavers.

Upgrade the Taka Street and Great South Road intersection

New features will include:

Making room for two right-turn lanes from Taka Street to Great South Road Removing the left-turn slip lane on Walter Strevens Drive so that the traffic lights can better manage all traffic movements on this side Adding advance stop boxes for cyclists so that they’re more visible to drivers if they’re turning at the intersection from the road Adding and upgrading pedestrian crossings so that all four sides of the intersection have dedicated crossing spaces and signals for people who walk and for cyclists

Benefits

Smoother traffic flow, more room to move

Once we complete Stage 1, traffic on Great South Road will have two continuous lanes in both directions for almost the entire corridor between Manuroa Road and Glenora Road. The bottlenecks that currently happen because of parked cars and inconsistent lane spacing will disappear. Drivers will see smoother journeys with fewer stop-starts.

The Taka Street and Great South Road intersection changes give drivers heading for Great South Road from Taka Street another lane to turn right. Long queues from this side should happen less often, especially at busy peak times. Removing the left turn slip lane on Walter Strevens Drive will also make turning to Great South Road from this direction safer.

Safer walking and cycling facilities, better quality footpaths

After we complete the new shared path and off-road cycle lanes in Stage 2, cyclists will have safer, better-quality space to travel separate from general traffic. For pedestrians, footpaths that are now cracked or narrow will be rebuilt into wider, smoother shared paths they can use to walk to school, shops, bus stops, or just for recreation.

Importantly, all these upgrades are within the road reserve. We don’t need to narrow or remove traffic lanes when building the new paths.

New and safer places to cross the road

When we make the changes to Taka Street intersection, people walking and cycling here will have dedicated crossing facilities on all four sides (currently, only three sides have crossings). Crossing this busy intersection will be safer and easier.

The changes around Maru Road and Great South Road will provide another safe place for pedestrians and cyclists to get across Great South Road. The bus stop changes we're making around Maru Road mean the crossing will benefit bus users too. Also, cyclists heading to the nearby train station can use it to cross Great South Road.

Since the crossing is push-button activated only, impacts to general traffic flow will be minimal.

Better quality, more accessible bus stops

The new bus stops replacing those by Manuroa Road and Taka Street will be located closer to many key destinations for customers, such as shops, churches and medical offices. They will also be more evenly spaced between other stops along Great South Road, which will help make timetables more consistent and journeys more reliable and efficient.

Trade-offs and mitigation

We acknowledge that removing on-street parking and the temporary gap in cycling facilities during construction will impact some locals. Also, people who regularly use the bus stops by Manuroa Road, Taka Street and Beach Road may have to travel a little further to reach the new stops.

Parking changes

Since the bus stop by Manuroa Road is an indented stop, we will be able to repurpose it into a few spaces for parking. This will give people who really need to park on Great South Road a place that is out of the way of general traffic.

If you normally park on some other part of Great South Road that is getting broken yellow lines, we want to hear how you currently use these spaces so we can identify solutions that help lessen the impacts. In some cases, there may be opportunities to create or better advertise alternative parking on side streets nearby. If not, we can work with affected whānau and businesses on other ways to support you through the changes.

Cycling facilities gap

While the Stage 1 project changes will temporarily leave no dedicated cycling facilities on Great South Road, the current on-road lanes have very low use. Many people have told us they don’t feel safe biking alongside heavy traffic here.

In Stage 2, the new off-road paths will significantly improve safety and accessibility for people who bike, walk or ride a scooter without impacting road capacity. In the long run, these changes will support more people to walk and cycle for local trips by providing a safer, more pleasant experience.

Beach Road bus stops removal

Similarly to the on-road cycle lanes, our current plan is to close the bus stops at Beach Road in Stage 1 of the project. We’ve found that few customers are using these bus stops compared to other nearby stops, so we don’t expect many people to be impacted.

Also, the replacement bus stops for those by Taka Street are being built not too far away (by Graham Road) in Stage 2. These stops will be closer to shops, restaurants, and offices, and the new locations will help buses along the corridor move more efficiently, predictably and reliably.

Alternatively, customers who do regularly use the Beach Road stops can use the next closest stops by Glenora Road. The Taka Street-area bus stops will also still be available for customers in between Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the project.

If you feel any of our planned bus stop changes might significantly impact you in other ways, we encourage you to share your insights in our survey or by contacting us directly. Your feedback will help us fully understand all the potential impacts and develop meaningful solutions to mitigate them.

Give feedback

We are seeking your feedback on the Great South Road project to make sure we get it right.

What you can influence

We'd like to hear:

• How do you currently travel on Great South Road?
• How might the project as a whole affect your current travel experience?
• If you rely on parking along Great South Road, would you be able to find convenient alternative parking elsewhere? If not, what are your barriers?
• What else could we do to further enhance changes like the new shared path, off-road cycle lanes, signalised crossing by Maru Road, or Taka Street intersection upgrades?
• What should we be keeping in mind as we make changes like relocating and upgrading bus stops? Have we overlooked anything?
• Looking ahead, what’s most important to you for the future of this corridor? Is it more reliable travel times? Better public transport? Safer crosswalks? Even more cycling options? What do you want to see more of on Great South Road?

What's already decided

Some elements of this project, such as keeping Great South Road clear for optimal traffic flow and adding new walking and cycling features, need to happen. These elements are essential for reducing congestion, improving safety and connectivity, and for the growth of the wider Takanini network.

For example, some of the new rail bridges will be walking and cycling bridges, or, if they are road bridges, they will have walking and cycling paths adjacent to the road lanes. The shared paths and off-road cycle lanes we’re adding to Great South Road will help people on bikes, scooters and foot safely and seamlessly connect to these other new walking and cycling paths.

However, where we cannot make design adjustments, community input will still guide how we implement the changes on the ground. It will help to shape details like parking management, construction timing, how we support who might be significantly impacted, and ensuring the new facilities meet local needs.

How to give feedback

To give feedback on this project, complete the survey below.

If you have a specific question or concern you'd like us to know about, you can email us at ATEngagement@at.govt.nz.

Feedback closes on 16 May 2026.