Tollway's path to chop 200 houses

By BERNARD ORSMAN and ANNE BESTON

The owners of homes and shops in the path of a $460 million motorway are gearing up to fight the giant project.

Up to 200 homes in East Auckland are in the path of the 25km expressway, from Hobson Bay through the eastern suburbs to Manukau.

Residents on a stretch of Ti Rakau Drive in Pakuranga face the choice of selling their homes to the Manukau City Council or going to court to stop the council compulsorily taking their homes.

Last night angry residents at a meeting in Mt Wellington demanded to know why they had heard nothing of the proposal until Auckland City Mayor John Banks appeared on television earlier in the evening.

Affected residents said they felt gutted by the news.

Dawn Goer, 62, who has lived in her Ti Rakau Drive home for 41 years, said she had wanted to be carried out in a box - not pushed out to make way for a road.

"It stinks. Our values have dropped overnight. If I put my house on the market now I would be laughed out of the street."

Earlier, Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis said he regretted the prospect that houses could make way for the road but both he and Mr Banks were determined nothing would stand in the way of completing Auckland's biggest roading project since the Harbour Bridge 40 years ago.

The 25km expressway will be tolled and is predicted to cut 40 minutes off a journey from Pakuranga to the city in peak hour.

It is expected to take traffic off arterial roads such as Tamaki Drive, as well as more than a thousand trucks a day off Ngapipi Rd.

The Manukau City Council must negotiate to acquire up to 200 houses to widen Ti Rakau Drive from four to six lanes. The houses were built in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Mr Banks faces powerful lobby groups opposed to building a new roadway across Orakei Basin and Hobson Bay.

The expressway will require reclamation work on the seaward side of Tamaki Drive to safeguard Judges Bay and the historic Parnell Baths, which are undergoing a $4.2 million refurbishment.

The estimated cost of the project is $460 million if the Manukau and Auckland councils decide on improvements to offset environmental damage.

The expressway could be built for $360 million by ignoring environmental issues.

Mr Banks said the expressway was no longer a case of "if" but "when".

Last night, Martin Poulsen, of Stop the Eastern Motorway group, said Auckland could do better.

"Auckland needs to move people, not cars. Instead of building another motorway now we have got to build some public transport."

Map: Planned Eastern Corridor route

Feature: Getting Auckland moving

Rideline Auckland public transport information