KEY POINTS:
Fears are growing that a $330 million extra Manukau Harbour motorway crossing will not be ready for visitors pouring through Auckland Airport for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Transit NZ warns that time has become "very tight" for building a duplicate four-lane bridge and widening its motorway approaches,
especially since a consent hearing by elected officials and commissioners appointed by three councils and Conservation Minister Chris Carter is not due to open until March 19.
Regional manager Peter Spies yesterday said Transit would do its best to build the crossing by 2011.
"Aucklanders want it and we are very keen to play our part and try to get there," he said.
But he acknowledged a risk Transit may miss the deadline, unless it can get past any planning appeals and complete enough design work to start building the project early next year.
"Certainly it is a very tight programme - that's exactly why we've gone on record as telling the councils that the quicker we get a hearing decision, the better the chances for all of us."
Mr Spies said construction would take up to 3 years, and there was a possibility the extra bridge may only be partially open in time for the rugby fiesta.
Temporary barriers may be used to provide limited extra capacity such as for high-occupancy buses to ferry visitors between the airport and central Auckland venues such as Eden Park.
Transit's planning application has attracted 127 submissions, and controversy surrounding visual impacts and traffic movements through Onehunga to and from a new motorway interchange suggests it is unlikely to satisfy opponents enough to forestall appeals to the Environment Court.
Maungakiekie Community Board chair Bridget Graham said serious social and environment impacts, which could last up to 100 years, had yet to be adequately addressed over the provision of infrastructure and Onehunga would not be "held to ransom" by short-term considerations such as the Rugby World Cup.
"We have only one chance to get this right," she said.
A four-month time lag between when submissions closed in November and the proposed hearing next month by representatives of Auckland Regional Council, Auckland and Manukau cities, and the Minister of Conservation has prompted criticism from business lobbyists including the Northern Employers and Manufacturers' Association.
Regional councillor and hearings panel chairwoman Dianne Glenn indicated it was inappropriate for her to comment, but Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard said Transit was only just finalising its ideas about what was a complex project.
Mr Hubbard said he was "not too worried" about the possibility that overseas visitors confronted with roadworks signs and barriers would be left with unfavourable impressions of Auckland, as these were features of cities around the world.
He said the duplicate crossing was crucial not just for the rugby cup, but also for the mobility of the increasing numbers of Aucklanders and others needing to travel to and from the airport.
