Auckland Eastern Corridor motorway to cost $1 billion

The cost of building a four-lane highway through the eastern corridor from Manukau to downtown Auckland has hit $1 billion.

Inquiries by the Herald have found huge extra costs to overcome environmental barriers in the path of an alternative eastern route to the Southern Motorway.

For the first time, a price of $200 million to $300 million has been put on building a tunnel under Hobson Bay, Orakei Basin and Purewa Creek.

Sources have also told the Herald it will cost upwards of $200 million to link the highway from Mt Wellington across the Tamaki River to Ti Rakau Drive in Pakuranga.

Planners face huge difficulties on this narrow stretch of land, which experiences some of the worst congestion in Auckland.

Another problem is widening Ti Rakau Drive for public transport, which is budgeted to cost $130 million.

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