Public canvassed on Avondale link

Transit New Zealand has started public consultation on two options to build the last leg of State Highway 20 through Avondale to join the Northwestern Motorway, at a cost of $940 million.

The most direct option runs down Great North Rd and the second across Great North Rd through Herons Park and parallel with Rosebank Rd to SH16.

The high cost of the project allows for tunnels to limit the loss of homes, parks and the Pollen Island marine reserve in the path of the two options.

Work on the Avondale link is not due to begin until 2007 at the earliest and it could be another 10 years before it is completed.

Transit will hold open days at the Avondale Community Centre on the third Saturday of each month. It hopes to announce a preferred option in October.

Once completed, State Highway 20 will provide a western ring-road bypassing Auckland City and the Harbour Bridge from Manukau to the Northwestern Motorway and on to Albany via the new Upper Harbour Highway.