Waterview Connection gets go-ahead

Cars on Great North Road at Waterview. Photo / Richard Robinson

The controversial Waterview Connection will go ahead in Auckland as planned, it was announced today.

The 4.5km motorway extension between Waterview and Mt Roskill will result in the demolition of 365 houses and cost $1.4 billion.

The New Zealand Transport Agency Board (NZTA) Board confirmed today the combined surface/tunnel alignment that will complete the Western Ring Route around Auckland.

It said the alignment was the same as that selected by the board in May this year as its preferred option.

Chairman Brian Roche said the board had chosen a route that was affordable and which could be completed on time.

The board was aware of the community's interests and concerns about aspects of the project, but he believed the combined surface tunnel alignment was the best option to complete the Western Ring Route within available funding.

The planned Waterview Connection has been the subject of angry public protests.

Margi Watson, organiser of a protest march in June, said then the community was concerned about the negative impact the planned motorway would have on its environment.

"It's time to stand up and say to the Government this is not an acceptable or accountable solution. It's a 1950s solution to a 21st century problem," she said.

Mr Roche said today the board knew that building a major infrastructure project in urban Auckland would affect people's lives and the environment.

"The Waterview Connection project is especially challenging because no land has ever been set aside to connect the highway network," he said.

The board was confident that the project's effects could be managed in a fair and reasonable way and that many of the community concerns could be addressed through good design.

Further work would be done before the board gave approval to begin statutory consent processes.

"We are acutely aware of the community's concerns about the effect of this project in their neighbourhoods and how the issues they have raised will be managed. The board is confident that these issues will be addressed as we proceed to the next step," Mr Roche said.

- NZPA