Cash-hungry Auckland Council leaders are eyeing a proposal to replace the complex Dominion Rd interchange with traffic lights to free valuable land for housing and commercial development.
Mayor Len Brown has indicated interest in what Auckland Transport makes of the proposal, which Albert-Eden Local Board member Graeme Easte says offers better connections between neighbourhoods of Kingsland and Eden Terrace severed when the three-level interchange opened in 1968.
Ward councillors Cathy Casey and Christine Fletcher are applauding his idea, as is council urban design champion Ludo Campbell-Reid, who calls the interchange "one of those eyesores designed when traffic engineers only saw their customer as a car".
Mr Easte, who has persuaded his board to promote the proposal, expects dismantling the interchange and its four traffic ramps - including the sweeping 277m one-way flyover to New North Rd - to more than pay for itself.