“Ō2NL was meant to be a Road of National Significance,” Sam says. “What we’re getting instead looks more like a road of compromises, shortcuts, and broken promises.

“Scrapping the Tararua interchange, severing Manakau, and removing the Taylors Road interchange isn’t progress – it’s a failure to deliver the basics. This isn’t about gold-plating an expressway; it’s about building a safe, functional connection that ensures it isn’t just a road through us, but for us. This is ultimately a budget issue that can be easily solved by the government.

“We’re a community willing to pay our share for this road through tolls. Spread over time and recovered through slightly higher tolls, the cost of delivering on the promised design is cents per car. Let’s not sabotage a once-in-a-generation project just to meet today’s inadequate budget line.

“It makes zero sense to design and consent a project based on a clear scope only to slash it months later because the budget no longer suits.

“The community has two real shots at turning this around: first, convincing the NZTA board not to compromise long-standing commitments just to make short-term savings; and second, urging the minister of transport and cabinet to step in with additional budget needed to deliver what was promised.

“There are practical solutions on the table, such as slightly increased tolls or other innovative funding mechanisms, that could close the budget shortfall. What we need now is leadership, not cost-cutting that leaves this community worse off.”