The Government is scrapping the controversial $785 million cycle bridge planned for across Auckland's Waitematā Habour in light of public outcry.
Transport Minister Michael Wood says the decision came as a result of feedback against the Northern Pathway, with funds to be reallocated to other projects.
“The Government has both listened and acted, meaning that the Northern Pathway standalone bridge will not be going ahead."
Further work on a harbour crossing focussed on improving public transport is still on the cards, after the Government allocated $60 million to investigating solutions for travel across the harbour.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is continuing to review options for a walking and cycling connection with short term alternatives like dedicated bike ferries and buses on the cards.
“The cancellation of the standalone bridge means we can support a range of other projects consistent with our plan for a transport system that both reduces emissions and supports new housing,” he said.
It's set to be allocated across four existing projects, focussed on improving transportation networks throughout Auckland.
These are:
Parts of that funding will be dedicated to supporting East Auckland, including accelerating work on the Eastern Busway project.
"East Auckland can’t afford to wait longer for better public transport ... this project will achieve similar objectives to the bridge of reducing emissions and congestion," said Wood.
A 1.9 kilometre cycleway link for the area is also being brought forward, connecting the busway cycleway with the new Glenn Innes to Tamaki cycleway.
Wood added that further work will be done over the coming months to identify other cycleway links that could be carried out.
The project's cancellation comes after the original SkyPath design which would have seen a cycleway attached to the harbour bridge's clip-ons wasn't deemed viable.
It was identified that the SkyPath hadn't been tested robustly and as a result, several structural flaws in its design prompted Waka Kotahi to rule out the plan in 2019.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff acknowledged that Wood had listened to and acted on public opinion with the scrapping of the cycleway plan.
“Aucklanders will welcome the reallocation of funding to other infrastructure projects in the city seen as a greater priority.”
Opposition parties have applauded the Government's decision to cancel the Northern Pathway, arguing it wasn't wanted by most Aucklanders.
Act spokesperson for transport Simon Coult said the idea was formed in response to pleas from a "small but loud minority".
"The bridge was always a bad idea, brought about by lobbying from a small but loud minority," he added.
"Aucklanders were clear they didn't want this project. They want real solutions that will get them moving."
Meanwhile National's East Auckland MPs Christopher Luxon and Simeon Brown say the decision was long overdue.
"It's obvious the cycle bridge has only been dumped because the Government realised it was overwhelmingly hated by New Zealanders," said Luxon, MP for Botany.
“Out of the Ardern Government’s long list of total failures, the four month lifespan of the cycle bridge must make it one of the shortest.
In June, Luxon accepted a petition from the Taxpayers' Union calling for the cycle bridge to be canned, which at the time had roughly 30,000 signatures.
To date it's collected over 50,000 signatures from members of the public wanting the project to be cancelled.
National's Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown said the delay in cancelling the project means other transport plans haven't been able to be prioritised.
“It’s a welcome relief the Government has finally listened to National and to many thousands of Aucklanders, but this should have happened months ago.
“Because of Labour’s lack of prioritisation, we’ve lost six months of possible progress on the Eastern Busway and the Reeves Road flyover."
Ashburton is also set to win in the project's reallocation of funding, with $2 million going towards the town's rail hub to allow for a $14 million upgrade to the area's freight network.
It's hoped the upgrade will help reduce the number of trucks on the roads in an effort to further decarbonise New Zealand's transport.
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