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SUPPLIED / Things
An Auckland Transport artist’s impression of the $ 1.35 billion Mill Road update.
The Waka Kotahi NZ Transportation Agency (NZTA) remains dead-mouthed about how much it plans to spend on a series of property purchases as part of Auckland’s $ 1.35 billion Mill Rd project.
When the government launched its new $ 12 billion infrastructure financing package in January, the project was the biggest ticket on the bill.
Auckland Transport (AT), which was previously in charge of the project, had started negotiating with the affected owners and had started buying properties for the proposed corridor between Manukau and Drury. Since then, NZTA has taken over as the lead agency and is now continuing the work started by AT.
The 21.5km Mill Rd arterial route, which would provide an alternate highway between Manukau and Drury that runs parallel to and east of State Highway 1 (SH1), is expected to be completed by 2028.
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A NZTA spokesman said he planned to start negotiations with the landowners soon.
“The purchase of properties in the area is being planned and we hope to start conversations with the owners in the coming months. As we are at such an early stage in this process, Waka Kotahi cannot confirm how much of the budget will be used for the acquisition of properties. ”
The spokesman said the project design contract was also expected to be signed shortly.
Auckland Deputy Mayor Bill Cashmore has been one of the staunch advocates of the Mill Rd update. Franklin Ward Councilman said it was a project that had been a long time coming.
“We should have had it 20 years ago,” he said. “The road was never designed for the heavy traffic we are passing through now.”
He said that 80 percent of the aggregate used in Auckland’s construction industry, which amounts to more than 12 million tonnes a year, comes from quarries south of Auckland that use Mill Rd.
Cashmore said that, along with the massive population growth in the area, it was a project that had to happen.
In August last year, the Auckland Council voted to sign two structure plans that are expected to see more than 34,000 homes built in the Drury and Pukekohe areas in the next 30 years. This is expected to increase the total population in the two areas by more than 100,000 people.
According to NZTA, the improved Mill Rd will provide a safer, more reliable and accessible path to support residential and job growth in South Auckland.
“Part of the Auckland Support Growth Program, Mill Road is an additional route from Manukau to Drury. It will provide better access to the more than 120,000 people who will make Auckland’s southern suburbs their home for the next three decades. “
He said the four-lane corridor would provide a safer way for people to travel between Manukau, Manurewa, Papakura and Drury.
Construction is expected to begin in late 2022.
