Time to ditch tunnel now that Aunt Helen is gone

So the last piece of roading-the Waterview connection and interchange- in the jigsaw puzzle that is the Auckland Motorway system has been stalled because of cost.

Rightly so.

The new National Party have sent back the plans to the drawing board because of the bloated cost foisted on the project by the previous Labour Party Government.

Specifically it is one person -Helen Clark- that has held up the finishing of the motorway for many years and now that she is gone the final impediment to it has fallen.

The motorway runs through Mt Albert where she is the MP.

You see building a tunnel is not the only option for the small stretch of road which is just under 4km, projected to cost almost NZ$3 billion and not future proofed because it is only 4 lanes wide in total.

A 6 lane option that cuts through the suburbs, as it does across all the other working-class suburbs before it gets to the rather posh(in places) Mt Albert would be far cheaper and more future proofed for expansion.

Lets hope Transport Minister Steven Joyce does the right thing and recommends a lovely ribbon of tarmac right past (preferably through)Helen's house.

If it is good enough for Phil Goff's Mt Roskll it is good enough for the toffs in Mt Albert.

Lets get building!

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c Political Animal 2009