The Mill Road project will construct a new corridor of roads between Manukau and Drury. File picture. Photo: 123RF
The fast-tracking of an alternative route to State Highway 1 through South Auckland could mean the start of construction within two years, an Auckland councillor says.
The Mill Road project, also a Road of National Significance, will construct a new corridor of over 21 kilometres of new and existing roads between Manukau and Drury.
It is one of 149 projects on the list for the government's Fast Track Approvals Bill, due to pass into law by the end of the year.
Councillor for Manuwera-Papakura Daniel Newman said the fast-track for Mill Road was critical to cut through consenting barriers.
"This could ensure that we could get this underway in the next two years, because it could allow us to short-circuit the consenting delays that have held the project up for far too long. And that's really important, because we need spades in the ground."
The road would be an alternative route to the congested Southern Motorway for people and freight.
It comes at a cost of $1.3 billion - but Newman said the project needed to happen.
"Every time that we delay this, the cost goes up, and up, and up. At some point we have to face it, we have to build it, and that's why we need to get on with this. It will be expensive, but it will never get any cheaper."
He said if the bill was passed, the consenting could be completed for stage one of the corridor, north of Alfriston Road.
Also on the list for fast-tracking in Auckland is an alternative route to North-West State Highway 16, the North-West rapid transit link, Airport to Botany rapid transit, and the long-planned Avondale to Southdown Railway corridor.