One of the biggest roading projects in Auckland - costing up to $1.85 billion - is not a motorway, but an arterial road, a board of inquiry heard this morning.
Public hearings have started into the east-west link, a four-lane road connecting State Highway 1 at Sylvia Park to State Highway 20 at Onehunga, which is costed at between $1.25b and $1.85b.
In an opening statement for the New Zealand Transport Agency, Patrick Mulligan said the project presented once-in-a-lifetime benefits to the environment and community.
The transport improvements were important, Mulligan said, but it would also transform the landscape and urban design, including community aspirations for Onehunga Wharf.
"Evertyone said we are building a motorway and that's not the case. It's an arterial road.