Auckland councillor Newman says there is a desperate need for safety upgrades to Mill Rd to reduce the risk to road users. Photo: Stephen Forbes/Stuff
A much-needed upgrade of a 21km arterial route in south Auckland has been included in the government's fast tracked list of developments.
The Mill Rd project has been hanging about on various plans for some time, dropped in 2021 by the last government after costs more than doubled in a year.
It has now been included in the government's 149-project list of developments for fast-tracked resource consents.
Manurewa-Papakura councillor Daniel Newman welcomed the move.
He said the project was desperately needed, years late, and required a fast-track to "overcome the insufferable ideological opposition from politicians and lawyers who would otherwise kill the entire plan".
"I strongly support Mill Road as an alternative to the State Highway One corridor in and out of Auckland," Newman said.
"The region needs the means and the resilience to move people and freight, which is vital to accommodate growth and economic productivity."
The Mill Rd project is expected to change 21km of road between the Redoubt Road interchange on State Highway 1 in Manukau to the proposed Drury South Interchange on SH1 in Drury.
It will involve a new corridor which will be a mix of new road and upgrades of existing roads.
There will be upgrades to numerous existing intersections and potentially works to existing local roads which will intersect with the new corridor.
Newman said before the first stage could begin, Mill Road needed to get through all of the necessary Notices of Requirement, route protection and consenting, "so we can get spades in the ground".
"This fast-track won't resolve everything, but it would mean we can progress at least the first stage of the corridor."
He said the strident opposition from climate activists against the project, who generally are not from South Auckland, have no idea what it's like to travel on that road.
"[They] have no interest in ever unlocking the gridlock that my constituents are increasingly experiencing."
In an earlier interview, Franklin Local Board chair Angela Fulljames said Mill Road being an alternative to the motorway was much needed.
"Anyone who uses the motorway knows there needs to be an alternative," Fulljames said.
"We've all spent hours in delays caused by accidents. Growth continues to make it worse."
Also included in the fast track list is the housing and development projects in Sunfield in Ardmore, Warkworth South (Waimanawa), Drury Metropolitan Centre, a new Papakura District Courthouse, the Papakura to Pukekohe Route Protection project to remove six level crossings and associated crossing interventions and the Airport to Botany Bus Rapid Transit.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.