A start on fixing one of Auckland's worst roading bottlenecks is tantalisingly close for the residents of Whangaparāoa Peninsula.
Decades after it was first mooted, the two-lane Penlink road connecting the burgeoning population on the peninsula to the Northern Motorway is another step closer to construction.
The appointment last week of a technical adviser to finalise the design of the consented 7km two-lane road with a separated walking and cycling shared path has been warmly greeted by locals.
"It's a battle we have won and I can't wait for the final result," says Leanne Willis, who lives in Little Manly and is a member of the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board.
She said if she does not leave home by 7am she will not be at work in Takapuna until 8.15am with much of that time spent stuck in traffic getting off the peninsula.
"The traffic is terrible. Penlink is going to improve things ten-fold," Willis said.
Penlink has gone from a regional project overseen by Auckland Transport to part of a $3.5 billion Auckland-wide package of transport projects announced by the Government in January.
Other projects include the $1.4 billion Mill Rd highway between Manukau and Drury, widening the Southern Motorway between Papakura and Drury, SkyPath over Auckland Harbour Bridge and about $1b of new rail projects, including electrifying rail from Papakura to Pukekohe.
Construction on Penlink (peninsula link road) is due to start in late 2021 and open in 2025.
Penlink will create an alternative route for more than 30,000 residents on the peninsula and ease congestion at the Silverdale interchange, Hibiscus Coast Highway and Whangaparāoa Rd.
The appointment of GHD as the principal technical adviser will help the project gain new momentum towards the start of construction, said NZ Transport Agency senior delivery manager Andy Thackwray.
This follows the appointment of Boffa Miskell in July to monitor and manage sensitive marine and freshwater issues in the area of the road before and during construction.
Thackwray said these are important steps towards getting on with building Penlink.
Kerry Inskeep, who moved to Army Bay at the end of the peninsula in the 1970s, when it was still a gravel road, said a new road was mooted back then but nothing had happened.
Now Whangaparāoa Rd, the only road in and out of the peninsula, was choking at peak times and what was a 20-minute drive to get off the peninsula could easily be more than 30 minutes, he said.
Inskeep said dynamic lanes - changing the direction of centre lanes at peak times - had been a big improvement on Whangaparāoa Rd between the Hibiscus Coast turnoff and Red Beach, but wanted Penlink to be four lanes.
"It would be a false economy not to put in two lanes each way," he said.
Stanmore Bay resident Chris Tarpey also wants to see a four-lane road considered.
He said Penlink had been promised for decades, saying: "I think like many of us living on Whangaparāoa Peninsula we will believe it when we see it."
Manly resident Matt Mitchell said Penlink will make a massive difference, but believed it is only one piece of the puzzle to improve transport options.
"The other thing that needs to go hand-in-hand with the bridge is a seven-day ferry service," he said.
Local councillor John Watson said Penlink had been big on hot air and short on funding, but was heartened to see NZTA cranking up work in a business-like way.
He said Penlink started as a solution for the peninsula, but it has changed to enable growth at Silverdale, Milldale and Millwater, and later at Dairy Flat.
Penlink allowed these huge new housing developments to occur by removing traffic off the very congested part of the Northern Motorway at the Silverdale off-ramp, Watson said.
Penlink will be a tolled road, but a fee has not been set. Watson said $2 to $3 would be a reasonable toll.