Pitched as the road that finally ends Northland's isolation, this is NZ First's long-standing demand for a four-lane highway running the full ~100km from Auckland's motorway end at Warkworth through to Whangārei. NZ First leader Winston Peters and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones frame it as economic justice for a region they argue has endured generations of under-investment, with Jones repeatedly tying it to keeping freight and exports flowing through Northport.

The Policy: NZ First Northland Infrastructure Policy — 2023 Election →

NZ First says National "never set one cent aside" for the Warkworth-to-Whangārei leg and that, at the old delivery pace, Northland would wait decades for a modern road. The policy was written into the 2023 National-NZ First coalition agreement as a Road of National Significance, including a four-lane alternative to the slip-prone Brynderwyn Hills.

What it does:

• Combines three previously separate roading projects — Warkworth–Te Hana, Te Hana–Port Marsden (the Brynderwyns), and Port Marsden–Whangārei — into a single ~100km expressway, delivered through a public-private partnership (PPP).
• Replaces State Highway 1 over the Brynderwyn Hills, where slips during 2023's storms closed the road for 73 days; the chosen alignment now runs east over the hills rather than the originally planned western bypass.
• Targets the first 26km stage (Warkworth–Te Hana), including an 850m twin-bore tunnel in the Dome Valley, with a preferred bidder selected and a PPP contract aimed for July 2026.
• Carries a very large price tag: NZTA's full-corridor estimate has been reported at roughly $15.3b-$18.3b for Whangārei to Te Hana, against a 2019 business-case figure of $1.7b-$2.1b for the southern section — a multi-fold escalation.

The result:

The project is moving, not stalled: NZTA confirmed a preferred corridor in 2025, shortlisted three international consortia, and named the Acciona-led Northway consortium as preferred bidder for stage one, with construction expected to begin in late 2026. But the business case is contested. The NZ Infrastructure Commission warned the corridor could absorb roughly $1 of every $10 of government infrastructure spending over 25 years, and its National Infrastructure Plan argued land-transport money should shift toward maintenance and resilience rather than new state highways. Transport advocate Connor Sharp and others note the 2019 detailed business case implied a benefit-cost ratio of about 0.7 — under a dollar of benefit per dollar spent — and the government has declined to release updated cost and BCR figures, a refusal upheld by Chief Ombudsman John Allen on the grounds that disclosure could weaken the Crown's PPP negotiating position. Supporters, including Whangārei MP Shane Reti and Northland MP Grant McCallum, counter that resilience and regional growth are not captured by a narrow BCR.

The impacts to watch:

• Tolling: NZTA has proposed tolling the first 26km with two points near Wellsford — about $4.50 one-way for cars and $9 for trucks — which freight operators warn stacks on top of the existing Northern Gateway toll.
• Fiscal exposure: Treasury initially resisted a Crown contribution to the PPP, and a Crown loan to NZTA funded from fuel excise and road user charges is now part of the structure, raising questions about who ultimately pays.
• Traffic case: only around 10,000 vehicles a day cross the Brynderwyns, and critics argue the 25,000-vehicle threshold that typically justifies a four-lane motorway may not be reached for decades.