Auckland's latest Waitematā Harbour crossing proposal looks to be dead in the water after the Transport Minister today indicated the current plan won't be built.
It comes after Auckland councillors earlier this week refused to endorse the project, with Mayor Wayne Brown lashing out at the eye-watering cost of the proposed tunnel network.
Auckland's latest harbour crossing proposal has come to a standstill.
Labour's bold, $56 billion plan was picked apart by councillors this week.
"In the size of our economy, it's a wonder that grown-up people, who can feed themselves and walk themselves, could come up with such a stupid number," said Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown.
And on Saturday it was the Transport Minister's turn.
"What the last Government did is they gold-plated everything, they wanted light rail to the airport, they wanted light rail to Albany," Transport Minister Simeon Brown said.
The last Government's multi-billion-dollar plan included upgrading the Northern Busway stations and light rail tunnels from Wynyard Quarter to Smales Farm, via stations at Belmont and Takapuna. There would then be another tunnel from Smales Farm to Albany, as well as another four underground stations.
Finally, there would have been two road tunnels between the central motorway junction and Akoranga Drive.
The majority of councillors refused to endorse it this week, with Mayor Brown leading the charge.
"I'm shocked that people have come up with this, I truly am, and I'm shocked that it actually hasn't yet been dumped by the Government," he said.
And today Simeon Brown effectively did.
"The reality is we aren't doing light rail, Auckland light rail will be scrapped," he said.
"The light rail vanity project is over, what we are committed to is looking at a resilient connection across the harbour - that is important, the bridge is aging, it is vulnerable, particularly when we have wind and storms here in Auckland."
But, despite quips like this from Mayor Brown: "I don't know how these people made these choices, our grandfathers knew that tunnels were way more expensive than bridges."
The Government backs an underground option.
"We said during the election that the preferred option would be a tunnel," Simeon Brown said.
But a timeframe? That's a bridge too far - so the crossing conundrum will continue for the foreseeable future.
