Wellington City District Plan Proposed Plan Change 83 Kiwipoint Quarry Traffic Assessment prepared by: Tim Kelly Transportation Planning Ltd for: Wellington City Council (Infrastructure) po box 58 mapua027-284-0332 nelson 7048 [email protected] www.tktpl.co.nz August 2018 R e f e r e n c e : wcc pc83 kiwipoint traffic review v2 aug18 transportation planning limited tim kelly Plan Change 83 Kiwipoint Quarry: Traffic Assessment i Contents 1 BACKGROUND & SCOPE ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 SCOPE & METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................................................... 1 2 EXISTING QUARRY OPERATION .......................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 LOCATION ............................................................................................................................................................. 3 2.2 KIWIPOINT AREA .................................................................................................................................................... 3 2.3 QUARRY OPERATION ............................................................................................................................................... 4 3 ROAD ENVIRONMENT ........................................................................................................................................ 6 3.1 DESCRIPTION ......................................................................................................................................................... 6 3.2 TRAFFIC VOLUMES .................................................................................................................................................. 6 3.3 CRASH HISTORY ...................................................................................................................................................... 9 3.4 WALKING, CYCLING AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT ............................................................................................................. 10 4 POTENTIAL ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH QUARRY TRUCK ACTIVITY .....................................................................11 4.1 SAFETY ............................................................................................................................................................... 11 4.2 EFFICIENCY .......................................................................................................................................................... 12 4.3 OTHER OPERATIONAL ISSUES .................................................................................................................................. 12 5 EFFECTS ASSOCIATED WITH PLAN CHANGE 83 ..................................................................................................13 5.1 SCENARIO WITHOUT PC83 ..................................................................................................................................... 13 5.2 SCENARIO WITH PC83 .......................................................................................................................................... 13 5.3 EFFECTS OF PC83 ................................................................................................................................................. 14 6 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................................................15 Tim Kelly Transportation Planning Ltd August 2018 Plan Change 83 Kiwipoint Quarry: Traffic Assessment 1 1 Background & Scope 1.1 Background Wellington City Council (WCC), as the owner of the Kiwipoint Quarry, is seeking a plan change (PC83) to enable its continued operation after the current workface is exhausted. PC83 was notified in April 2018 and submissions closed in May 2018. A hearing is scheduled for September 2018. Assessments in support of the PC83 application did not include any consideration of potential traffic effects, on the basis that the continued operation of the quarry would result in no change to the associated levels of traffic activity. A submission from the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has raised concerns that there may be existing / historical operational problems associated with the use by quarry trucks of the adjacent State Highway 1 (SH1) Ngauranga gorge (Centennial Highway). If such problems exist, they would continue with on-going quarrying activity (and possibly intensify as background levels of traffic activity increase over time on this part of the state highway network). 1.2 Scope & Methodology This document describes a review of the available information regarding the effects of quarry-related vehicle movements upon the operation of the Ngauranga gorge. A number of specific issues are addressed: the availability of any evidence of recent problems (safety or efficiency) being experienced on Ngauranga gorge as a result of its use by quarry-related truck movements; whether on-going growth in background traffic activity on the Ngauranga gorge would be likely to result in quarry-related truck movements having a greater effect in the future; and whether the granting of the plan change would be likely to lead to any change in the level of effects associated with quarry-related truck movements. This review is intentionally confined to the potential effects of quarry-related truck movements only. The number of light vehicle movements is not high and their effects are negligible. ‘Quarry-related’ includes truck movements associated with the Allied Concrete and Downer operations, since these are dependent on the quarry. The geographic extent of possible effects has focussed upon the northbound direction of travel on the Ngauranga gorge, as this is where the greatest potential for effects arises as a result of slow-moving loaded trucks on the uphill section between Kiwipoint and the Newlands interchange. Nonetheless, it is recognised that a proportion of the loaded trucks also travel downhill from the Newlands interchange, as well as unloaded trucks approaching Kiwipoint from the south, and these areas are addressed as appropriate. Potential effects beyond the Ngauranga gorge area have not been considered as the Tim Kelly Transportation Planning Ltd August 2018 Plan Change 83 Kiwipoint Quarry: Traffic Assessment 2 dispersal of truck movements to the various routes available means any effects are necessarily diluted. This review has involved: a site visit to view conditions directly; a review of detailed crash records for the relevant part of the Ngauranga gorge; a review of traffic volumetric information for Ngauranga gorge; liaison with WCC, Holcim, Allied Concrete and Downer regarding the nature of activities undertaken, truck movements and any issues encountered by drivers; and liaison with the Traffic Operations Centre (TOC) in relation to the general operation of the gorge area and specifically the movement of quarry-related trucks. Tim Kelly Transportation Planning Ltd August 2018 Plan Change 83 Kiwipoint Quarry: Traffic Assessment 3 2 Existing Quarry Operation 2.1 Location The general location of the existing quarry site is shown by Figure 2.1. Newlands Interchange Existing Quarry Area State Highway 1 / Ngauranga Gorge Tyers Road Commercial Figure 2.1: Location Plan Area (Source: WCC GIS) Vehicular access to the Kiwipoint area is from a point on Ngauranga gorge 1.4kms above the State Highway 2 (SH2) interchange, and 850m below the Newlands Road overbridge. 2.2 Kiwipoint Area A number of activities are located within the Kiwipoint area and share the access to/from Ngauranga gorge at this point: Kiwipoint Quarry (described in further detail below); Taylor-Preston (meat processing); Allied Concrete (production of concrete materials); and Tim Kelly Transportation Planning Ltd August 2018 Plan Change 83 Kiwipoint Quarry: Traffic Assessment 4 Downer (production of asphalt materials). 2.3 Quarry Operation General Description The quarry is owned by WCC but operated by Holcim (NZ) Limited. Principal activities are the blasting of the rock-face, rock-crushing and processing. Materials produced are aggregates, including builder’s mix, roading/drainage metals, base course, river sand and decorative rock. Total annual output is 315 – 325,000 tonnes, or around 1,100 tonnes/day. Hours of Operation The quarry operates from 7am on six days/week, closing at 5pm Monday-Thursday, 4pm on Friday and 3pm on Saturday. The site is closed on Sundays and public holidays. Truck Activity Figure 2.2 summarises truck activity associated with the quarry over the most recent 12- month period. The quarry generates 1,700 – 2,300 return truck movements a month (or 65 – 88 per day), but of these 51% make ‘internal’ deliveries to the Allied Concrete or Downer plants within the Kiwipoint area. The number of ‘external’ vehicle movements averages around 1,000 return truck movements a month (or 40 per day). Figure 2.2: Kiwipoint Quarry: Typical Truck Activity by Month Other(Source: Activities Holcim NZ Ltd) Tim Kelly Transportation Planning Ltd August 2018 Plan Change 83 Kiwipoint Quarry: Traffic Assessment 5 Other Activities Allied Concrete