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Waitakere City Council believes a Rosebank Rd connection is the only alternative to the Waterview tunnel project, and wants construction to begin as soon as possible.
Mayor Bob Harvey said the council was determined to promote the Rosebank Rd transport option over the "massively expensive and nonsensical" tunnel proposal, which aimed to construct twin tunnels under the western isthmus of the city.
"We have been pushing [the Rosebank Rd connection] for years and we intend to nail it. As far as I am concerned there is no other option. This is the road Auckland needs."
The Government said last week that plans for the Western Ring Road may have to go back to the drawing board after revised costs for the Waterview tunnel increased by nearly $1 billion. The total cost of the 3.2km route, at $2.77 billion, is equivalent to 1.6 per cent of the country's GDP.
The three-lane link sought by the Automobile Association and business groups would increase the cost to $3.16 billion.
But Phil Chase, deputy chairman of the Eden/Albert Community Board and former co-chairman of the Greenbelt Community Organisation, says the figures are a jack-up, based on a dodgy financial calculation.
"It's apples and oranges. The latest figure includes things that weren't in the original estimate, including an extra lane each way through the tunnels, extra lanes leading up to the tunnels, and the repair of SH16 where it is sinking.
"I feel really sorry for the people living in Pt Chevalier, Mt Albert, Avondale, Waterview and the surrounding district. They've had nothing but stress and uncertainty for years. It's a pity the minister is not looking at a modern public transport system instead."
Transport Minister Steven Joyce is asking officials to come up with alternatives to the tunnel, which is intended to complete the Western Motorway bypassing the city.
Three options for completing SH20 were shortlisted in 2002, and the decision to go for the Waterview project was made by the then Transit New Zealand and Auckland City Council in 2005. At that time, the Rosebank Rd option, 2.5km longer than Waterview, was expected to cost an extra $400 million.
Mr Harvey said he knew of no opponents to the Rosebank Rd connection, and from rough early estimates believed the road could cost as little as a tenth of the proposed Waterview tunnel project.
The Rosebank Peninsula option is also the favoured choice of the Auckland Regional Council.
Mr Harvey visited the proposed site for the road on the weekend with council staff and was satisfied that the option would have minimal environmental impact and not impinge on residential areas.
"The Rosebank Rd connection is clear. The road would pass behind an industrial area ... and would cross mudflats also. Environmentally it is right."
Mr Harvey said the council was preparing submissions to the Government this week. He felt it important to begin an alternative route.
"It simply has to be finished soon. We feel this idea has momentum and we are hugely positive."
A Waterview connection would complete the 42km Western Ring Route, which has a tentative completion date of 2015.
Stephen Selwood, head of the Council for Infrastructure Development, says that the minister's decision to hold fire on the Waterview tunnel is not surprising, and not unreasonable.
"Completion of the ring road is imperative though, as a congestion-busting alternative to the SH1 Auckland through-road."
