FAQs

Park Road, outside Auckland City Hospital, is a key route connecting Newmarket and the city centre. 14,300 passengers on the bus and 13,500 people in cars use this road for their commute on weekdays. This road is often heavily congested between 10am to 2pm from Grafton Road to the hospital’s entrance. We have noticed delays of up to 10 minutes for vehicles trying to get into or past the hospital.  There is currently only one lane here, and when it’s busy, motorists waiting to turn into the hospital hold up other vehicles. This leads to unsafe driving behaviour with people driving on the wrong side of the road to try and get past those waiting to access the hospital. This is a regular occurrence. 

 We’ve worked hard to design a proposal that makes the most of the available road space moving people more safely past the hospital. Our proposed dynamic lane layout will make the most of 3 lanes available on Park Road which means less waiting and more moving for our commuters and motorists. 

Over the past few years, we have worked closely with the hospital to ease congestion. Together, we have launched initiatives such as the Te Hīkoi Whai Hauora Fresh Air Walk, encouraging staff to walk from nearby Newmarket carparks. The hospital has also increased parking for patients and visitors. Bus routes are regularly reviewed to ensure people have options. But as Auckland grows and demand on healthcare rises, congestion is getting worse.

We chose 10:00 am to 2:00 pm because that’s when most people are travelling towards the hospital. Outside these hours, more traffic heads towards the city, so the lane changes back to normal. 

We’ll install electronic LED road markers and signs to guide traffic safely. This includes:

• Two overhead gantries (signs showing which lane to use)
• Four digital bus lane signs on the roadside to show when the bus lane is active
• LED lights on the road instead of painted lane markings, so drivers know exactly where to go

There will also be:

• A digital sign showing parking availability for the hospital car park on Grafton Road
• Three more digital signs on Park Road to show lane use

Our goal is to use all three lanes on Park Road with as little disruption as possible.

Dynamic lanes are becoming more common across Auckland, but we understand that not everyone is familiar with them. As a part of our feedback process on this proposal, we are asking the community their familiarity with dynamic lanes so upon launching we can run a relevant educational campaign. 

The corridor studies conducted between 2016/17 did not proceed due to the complexity of the issues which posed significant impacts on cyclists and pedestrians, and the high cost involved.

We are aware that cyclists regularly use the bus lanes on Park Road as an informal biking lane. As the bus lane will no longer be available from Monday - Friday, 10 am - 2pm cyclists and buses will no longer have priority access for approximately 200m of the dynamic lane zone. Our team is actively exploring mitigation options to reduce the impact on cyclists. 

The new City Rail Link will provide:

• faster journeys
• new direct travel options
• better access to the city centre.

Getting to Grafton, Newmarket and Parnell by train

• For Grafton or Newmarket, change to a South-City Line train service at Karanga-a-Hape Station. 
• For Parnell, change to the South-City Line at any of the city centre stations.
• If you travel off-peak (after 9am and before 4pm) or at the weekends, an Onehunga-West train service from any station between Henderson and Maungawhau will take you to Grafton and Newmarket.

Getting to Grafton, Newmarket and Parnell by bus

• For Grafton and Newmarket, change to the 64 bus on Mount Eden Road (Stop 8503) at Maungawhau Station.
• For Grafton, Newmarket and Parnell (in that order), change to an Inner Link, 966 or 866 bus on Karangahape Road (Stop 7131) at Karanga-a-Hape Station.
• For Parnell, Newmarket and Grafton (in that order), change to an Inner Link bus on Customs Street East (Stop 7018) at Waitematā Station.

Click here for more information on CRL Network & Timetable Update.