National has promised to start building a $760 million extension of Auckland's Northern Motorway to Warkworth in two years, after the project won final planning approval yesterday.
That narrows a time-frame offered by the Transport Agency, in response to a board of inquiry's go-ahead, in which it said construction of the controversial road "is anticipated to begin between 2016 and 2019".
Prime Minister John Key told the Northland Economic Forum in Whangarei that construction would start in 2016-17.
The so-called "holiday highway" heads a list presented to the forum of National's top 10 "key initiatives to unlock the Northland economy".
It is described as "the Puhoi to Wellsford Road of National Significance" even though engineers have yet to find a suitable route for a second stage of the project, through difficult terrain north of Warkworth.