Editing Eastern Transport Corridor (section)

== Proposed motorway ==

=== Original designs ===
A strategy study in 2002 stated a need for a new motorway to be built in the corridor (as had been planned decades before) for a variety of reasons including the need to make suburban streets safer and less polluted. In March 2004, Auckland City Mayor [[John Banks (New Zealand politician)|John Banks]] proposed a motorway scheme through [[Hobson Bay]]. There was substantial community and political resistance to the scheme, largely due to the cost of the proposal (equivalent to four years of the entire country's transport funding budget) and the impact it would have on a number of established neighbourhoods, as well as areas like Tamaki Drive, the [[Parnell Baths]] and several environmentally sensitive areas.<ref name="WANTSLINK"/> However, there were also groups that defended it, citing the projected economic gains, and the benefit it would have on the traffic volumes on Tamaki Drive.{{Citation needed|date=December 2010}} Banks proposed to underground large sections of the scheme (earning it the nickname 'tunnelway' amongst some commentators) and proposed to pay for the construction costs at least partly by selling Auckland City's 25% shareholding in [[Auckland Airport|Auckland International Airport]], and by charging a $5 toll.<ref name="WANTSLINK"/><ref name="TUNNELWAY">{{cite news|title=Keith Rankin: Auckland Traffic Blues|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0111/S00095.htm|accessdate=30 December 2010|date=15 November 2001}}</ref>

In 2002, Banks proposed that the Eastern Transport Corridor might link into a harbour tunnel starting north of Parnell, and linking to Ngataringa Bay near Devonport, for an estimated cost of $1 billion.<ref name="WANTSLINK">{{cite news|title=Mayor wants $1b Auckland transport link|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=1341774|accessdate=18 June 2011|newspaper=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|date=11 April 2002|first1=Catherine|last1=Masters|first2=Bernard|last2=Orsman}}</ref>

=== Revised designs ===
Many spoke out against the project, including former Auckland City Mayor [[Christine Fletcher]], who argued that the proposed motorway barely featured in the statutory policy documents, that city councillors lacked the necessary information to make informed decisions, and that the intended growth areas of the city would not require the corridor, with a public transport route being preferable.<ref name="PRESSFLETCHERETC">{{cite news|title=Fletcher Submission to the Transport Committee|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0406/S00241.htm|accessdate=18 June 2011|newspaper=Press Release: Christine Fletcher|date=29 June 2004}}</ref>

A revised plan published on 25 August 2004 reduced the number of lanes substantially (2-3 lanes + bus lane in each direction depending on the section), reducing the financial and ecological impact. Banks said he hoped the scheme would be acceptable to the opponents of the scheme, even though around 1,200 houses would still have to be demolished or otherwise affected. The Purewa Creek section was to be aligned on an elevated expressway to avoid damage to the environmentally sensitive area, while the motorway would be sunk into trenches in [[Glen Innes, New Zealand|Glen Innes]] to reduce disruption. Depending on the connection to the CBD, the scheme would have either entered the city on a widened western Tamaki Drive section after crossing Hobson Bay, or gone through a tunnel under Parnell – which politicians promised would reduce much of the effects on Parnell residents.<ref name=EVERYCONSIDERATION>{{cite news|title=Parnell tunnel deserves every consideration|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0403/S00075.htm|accessdate=18 June 2011|newspaper=Press release: Auckland Citizens and Ratepayers Now|date=10 March 2004}}</ref>

However the impacts were still high, and the costs rising (with a worst case estimate of NZ$3.9 billion),<ref name="JAMS">{{cite news|title=The $4b answer to traffic jams|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=348&objectid=3553854|accessdate=4 January 2011|newspaper=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|date=10 March 2004}}</ref> and at that point the corridor was fast becoming a political [[Boondoggle (project)|boondoggle]].

The proposed motorway was one of the principal points of contention in the 2004 local body elections and contributed to the defeat of Banks. It also led to the election of two candidates from the [[Action Hobson]] protest group who became councillors primarily on the promise to stop the new motorway.<ref name="Street Protest">{{cite news|title=Street protesters' fast road to power|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3599618|accessdate=23 December 2010|newspaper=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|date=12 October 2004|first=Bernard|last=Orsman}}</ref>

The Auckland City Council transport and urban linkages committee decided on 10 December 2004 to scrap the planned motorway component in favour of improved public transport and increased capacity on existing local roads.{{Citation needed|date=January 2011}} However the transport reserve remains in place, allowing for the motorway to be undertaken at some point in the future if it becomes economically and politically feasible.