Section by section, work on the well-wheeled Waikato Expressway route has gradually improved travel between New Zealand's biggest city and its nearest, centrally placed neighbour, Hamilton.
Over those years, Pokeno, at the bottom of the Bombays, has gone from sleepy village to sleeper town and, at the other end, Hamilton has seen major commercial and suburban sprawl, and pedestrian-friendly development of its centre, gardens and river walks.
In a year, drivers pushing further south will be able to motor through to Cambridge via a bypass. And at some stage next year, four lanes will be the order of the day for anyone zipping from Cambridge to Warkworth.
Judging by the past year, the final stretches to this crucial artery are being completed just in time.
Auckland's infrastructure has been struggling with a steadily growing population, and thousands of Kiwis have returned home to escape the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, helping to fuel demand in the housing market.
There are challenges and opportunities for the region.
Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate said: "Hamilton is an incredibly important logistics hub at the centre of a freight and distribution sector critical to New Zealand.
"The Golden Triangle between Auckland and Tauranga generates 52 per cent of the national GDP so transport connections, including the expressway, are vital not just to our city, but to the country."
Well before Covid-19, internal population trends showed people mainly focused on the area from Taupō northwards.
Three of five regions to exceed the country's national average of 1.6 per cent growth in the year ended June 2019 were Northland (2.3 per cent), Waikato (2.1 per cent) and Bay of Plenty (2 per cent).
The country's population stood at 5,101,400 at the end of last September, according to Statistics New Zealand figures.
It said that Auckland, Northland, Waikato, and Bay of Plenty are now home to 54 per cent of the country's population. And the big four accounted for almost 60 per cent of population growth between 2013 and 2019.
Last month, Stats NZ projected that there was "a 90 per cent probability of [the population] increasing to 5.13–5.51 million in 2025".
Future migration will be influenced by factors still to play out once our closed borders are reopened.
Some returnees may head offshore again once the pandemic eases, for personal, work and lifestyle reasons.
But for many, 2020 may have been a game-changer.
The pandemic left many Kiwis stranded away from families, in heavily populated countries where the response to the virus was not as effective as here.
There is also concern that it could take many months to vaccinate hard-hit countries overseas. Rollouts are mostly proceeding slowly - Israel appears to be an exception - even as the new fast-spreading virus mutation ups the stakes.
The pandemic has increased New Zealand's attractiveness as a place to live. And it has accelerated trends where a lot of jobs can be done remotely.
For the northern region to cope with the ongoing population growth, and also get the best economically out of that concentration of people, it needs good road and rail links to send people and goods safely and swiftly between the centres.
And also, in this time of discovering our own backyard, to find the many gems along the way.
