A transport expert has suggested a new stadium could fix Auckland's "scar" by sitting on top of the Central Motorway Junction (CMJ).
Auckland residents have long argued about where to build a new stadium to replace the aging Eden Park.
Mayor Phil Goff has commissioned a pre-feasibility study on where exactly to put one, but the Auckland Council budget doesn't have any money put aside to build it.
According to Greater Auckland editor Matt Lowrie, the CMJ - known by many locals as 'Spaghetti Junction' - should be considered above other sites in the study like Victoria Park or the waterfront.
"The Victoria Park option sounds like the kind of deliberately outlandish thing that gets put in a report to make up the numbers and make the other suggestions look better," he wrote on Greater Auckland, a blog about Auckland transport and planning.
"Quay Park is touted as the preferred option but it has its challenges too, such as it's a tight sight, over the top of the railway land and would be more than double the current 18m height limit."
Putting a stadium in Spaghetti Junction does have its own issues, like the need to build in ventilation and fire systems on the motorway.
It would also need an expensive piling system - but Mr Lowrie believes a waterfront stadium on reclaimed land would need that too.
By comparison, the on top of the motorway site is close to transport links, the city centre and would be more pleasant for pedestrians to look at than the current exposed bridge.
It would even have good naming opportunities - how does the Spaghetti Bowl sound?
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