Auckland’s multibillion-dollar four-lane Mill Rd highway could be on the rocks — but the Government has been moving to buy land faster than ever. Search the Herald’s exclusive map to see the status of 287 properties - those bought in full, those partially bought and those in the Government’s sights.

It’s been talked about for two decades, has no start date, no money for construction and, according to some commentators, was as good as cancelled by the Government last month.

But moves to take land for South Auckland’s four-lane Mill Rd highway have accelerated this year, the Herald can reveal – uprooting families and throwing lives into turmoil for those whose homes are in the project’s path.

Almost half the 287 properties required for the project’s first stage received formal paperwork in 2026, land records show.

That included 95 private owners getting notice the Crown wants at least some of their land, and 56 compensation deals being signed.

The Crown has snapped up at least 14 whole properties – home and land – direct from owners since June last year, after doing just two deals in the previous four years, according to public records.

Government planners said 68 of the 73 full blocks of land needed had now been taken into Crown control, and $131 million had been spent buying property since mid-2020.

Despite the recent rush, the Government last month cast uncertainty over when – and perhaps if – building work on the road would start.

“As funding becomes available, these projects can progress to construction,” Transport Minister Chris Bishop said on July 9 about Mill Rd stage 1, without indicating when the cash might be put up.

Labour said Bishop’s comments meant Mill Rd and other Roads of National Significance were now on a “wishlist” rather than a firm timeline.

The Herald’s political editor opined that the delayed road was “as good as cancelled”.

Meanwhile, scores of families have been moved out, others are still negotiating, and tenants say they don’t know when they will be told to leave.

South Auckland councillor Daniel Newman said the Mill and Redoubt Rd families had lived in a “state of miserable uncertainty for years”, and it was “beyond depressing” to again be waiting on a road with no start date.

Redoubt Rd homeowner Taro Joy said he’d lost his tenants during negotiations with property agents for the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA).

He’d been hopeful of hearing back on a final price from the agency over the strip of land it wants to take from his property.

Then the Government deferred the road again, and the phone line has gone quiet – heaping more uncertainty on him, he said.

A long-delayed, $2b road mapped

Proposed as an alternate 21.5km, four-lane highway, starting at Manukau and running parallel to the traffic-jammed Southern Motorway, the project has been on the drawing board since at least 2008.

Now the Herald’s exclusive interactive map can help you make sense of where it’s at after almost two decades.

Red on the map is land already owned by the Crown – 68 properties, most purchased years ago by Auckland Transport for the project and later transferred to the Crown.

Orange shows properties where public records indicate a deal done for a strip of land – like a piece of driveway – but the owner is staying put.

Pink blocks are properties where the Crown has given notice to the owners, but the records don’t yet show if the full block or just a piece of it is required by the Government.

You can also look at the map’s legend, or click on an individual property to see its current status.

Certainty, not cancellation

The National Party campaigned at the last election on beginning to build a number of what it called Roads of National Significance, within its first term in power.

That included the first stage of the Mill Rd highway.

It said the project would cut traffic congestion on the route by 30%, reduce deaths and injuries from crashes, and support 120,000 people moving into the growing area of South Auckland.

Last year, it committed $91m to finishing design work on the first stage.

Then last month, the Government back-pedalled, admitting its build programme had been ambitious. Mill Rd was caught in the reshuffle.

The project’s first stage was classified as being in a “pre-implementation” phase.

That involved “route protection” with “focused property acquisition” and detailed design works.

But construction would only begin when funding was available, while the second and third stages of the project would be “continuing more slowly”.

Bishop said the announcement provided certainty and financial responsibility.

“This pipeline demonstrates that we have struck the right balance with our ambitious and responsible transport programme,” he said, citing rising construction costs.

Herald political editor Thomas Coughlan, however, said the announcement meant the road was cancelled again.

Planned, dropped, revised, dropped, revised - dropped again?

July’s announcement is the latest lurch in a prolonged cycle of promise and postponement for the road – spanning multiple governments.

The Manukau City Council first sketched the route as early as 2008, telling owners construction was “at least 10 years away”.

By 2013, the project’s first stage had a $246m price tag.

In 2016, Auckland Transport won planning approval for the first stage, about four years after the Crown had bought the first homes for the project.

National promised $1 billion towards the project and ran into the 2017 election vowing to build it.

After taking control of the Government, Labour mocked National’s unfunded roading promises as “ghost roads” – then funded Mill Rd anyway: earmarking $1.35b in 2020, for a 2022 construction start date.

A year later they scrapped it amid ballooning costs.

In opposition, National MP Simeon Brown called Labour’s scaled-back rethink “dithering” – before taking over the Transport Ministry in the new coalition Government, which arrived promising to get building.

Now estimated costs for Mill Rd’s first stage have risen to between $1.75b and $2.05b.

By April last year, Bishop had taken over the Transport Ministry and announced $91m for project design work, saying construction could begin “as early as mid-2026” – and that by 2031, drivers on the corridor would enjoy “25% faster journey times”.

‘I can’t move on’: Fresh uncertainty for homeowners

High on Redoubt Rd hill with a view to Rangitoto, Taro Joy’s home sits in a “beautiful place”.

He bought in 2017 and lived there for years, before moving to Australia.

It’s now split into three units.

But the strip of land the Government wants has led to empty rooms and a nine-month fight over the price, rather than a steady home and income, Joy told the Herald.

The upstairs tenants left within a fortnight of the Crown’s notice arriving last year.

The flat has been vacant since.

He said the Crown first offered a price based on what he called old information that didn’t take into account the new units.

He pushed back, insisting a valuer visit in person, but claims that took six weeks.

The back-and-forth had dragged the negotiation out nine months, he said. “Every step I’ve had to fight.”

Joy feared that even if a deal to buy his land was struck, further delays and construction might stretch on for a further 10 to 15 years.

“It’s come to a point where this has just gotten to ridiculous proportions, and I can’t move on.”

The Herald spoke to other owners in negotiations for a buyout, or who had lost a home, but didn’t want to talk on the record.

One family bought on a side street off Redoubt Rd and later found out their home was in the project’s path.

They responded by demolishing their own house and rebuilding a new one further back on their section.

It’s meant they could remain on the land, with the Crown taking the front strip of their block while the neighbouring homes have been bought out.

It was incredibly stressful, they told the Herald.

With the NZTA now a major landlord along the route, renters are also affected.

One tenant said he told his daughter to sell her chooks because the family don’t know when they will be ordered out and need to be ready.

Despite the uncertainty, nearly everyone the Herald spoke to agreed the new roadway should be built.

Councillor Newman said the Mill Rd corridor was “vital” because the adjacent Southern Motorway was so jammed at peak hour it was a “car park”.

Newman said the jams added up to lost economic productivity and the Government needed to “get on and do it”.

An NZTA spokeswoman said stage one of the project was in the pre-implementation phase, with work continuing on design, consenting and supporting activities.

“We will provide directly affected landowners further updates when these are available.“

She said the agency acknowledged a notice could “create uncertainty for affected property owners”.

“However, a designation does not prevent people from continuing to own, use, buy or sell their property.”