Rodney Mayor Penny Webster says comments by ARC Chairman Mike Lee that Auckland needs electric trains not a "holiday highway" show that he is grossly out of touch with the region's transport priorities.
"Upgrading State Highway One from Puhoi to Wellsford is vital for the economic future of Rodney, Northland and Auckland as a whole. The highway also has an appalling safety record and urgent action is needed. The community who lives here now knows that. Mr Lee, who doesn't, does not," she says.
"I am tired of hearing Mr Lee's continually snide remarks about 'the holiday road' - surely the amount of traffic movements on this stretch of highway would indicate to anyone with some common sense that it is anything but a holiday road," she adds.
Mrs Webster says that Mr Lee's comments show no understanding of the transport priorities of the greater Auckland region and that she is concerned that attitudes such as this may be a foretaste of what Rodney can expect under the new Auckland Super City.
"I can only hope for the sake of those of us up north that the Minister stays firm and gets the road construction underway asap - not just planning but construction."