A transport expert has said the super city's newly opened Waterview Connection will turn out to be an expensive disaster, and won't ease traffic woes.
The tunnel connects the Western and Southwestern motorway networks, and faces its first big test today as commuters head to work this morning.
Greater Auckland spokesperson Patrick Reynolds said building new roads will do nothing to reduce congestion, and that in order for the motorway to work properly, "we have to have as many people as possible not using it and we need to give them a really good alternative".
"It will be a very useful piece of infrastructure off-peak, but on-peak they fall to the logic of all urban highways everywhere in cities, which is that they induce more driving, therefore they induce traffic congestion."
Early on Sunday afternoon, the day it opened, traffic in the tunnel was already at a standstill.
"Well that didn't take long," user @LisaCNZ tweeted alongside a video showing how the traffic had backed up.
Mr Reynolds said the system won't cope as it is, and that we should learn from other cities around the globe and build dedicated bus lanes and rail networks.
"In thriving cities it doesn't work. The only kind of cities it does work in is cities like Detroit where the population is fleeing and the economy has crashed."
The Government needs to stop building motorways, he said, and instead develop better public transport.
Newshub.
