A traffic engineer is questioning whether a planned $1.7billion Puhoi-Wellsford extension on Auckland's Northern Motorway makes economic sense for Northland.
Whangarei's Dean Scanlen, from the firm Engineering Outcomes, has looked at plans to extend the motorway, which currently ends near State Highway One's Puhoi turnoff.
The project is one of the Government's Roads of National Significance and is touted as essential for Northland's future growth, but Mr Scanlen told a Far North District Council meeting on Thursday he was unconvinced. "I'm not necessarily against the project, but I'm concerned that the economics aren't that flash."
He also doubted the NZ Transport Agency had properly considered the alternatives.
Mr Scanlen initially voiced his doubts in a letter to the Advocate. The Whangarei Economic Development Group invited him to make a presentation; Mayor Wayne Brown heard it and asked him to speak at a council meeting.