The developer of Albert Park’s old air-raid tunnels says they “have to be open before the America’s Cup” in 2021. Revealed: Auckland Council’s billion-dollar transformation plan Auckland Council backs proposal to reopen WWII tunnels under CBD Bill Reid has championed the project for the past 30 years, which would link up Auckland’s existing walking and cycling network, and create a subterranean city. “These tunnels have to be open prior to the America’s Cup,” Mr Reid told Newshub Nation. The main tunnel will link Victoria St in the CBD to Beach Rd below Parnell, with two elevator portals below Princes St and Symonds St connecting students to AUT and the University of Auckland. It will also see the Grafton Gully and Beach Road Cycleway connected to the planned Victoria Street Linear Park, which in turn connects to Skypath over the Harbour Bridge. “It’s the integral link,” says Mr Reid. There are more than three kilometres of tunnels under Albert Park, with cafes, wine and cheese boutiques and a museum planned for some of them. “Nick Andreef, who owns Waitomo Adventures, he also wants to put in glow worms and black-water rafting in and around the tunnels,” says Mr Reid. “It’s fitness, it’s health, it’s history which is going to be opened to the public.” The construction will be privately funded, with users paying a toll to pass through. “We believe that it will be paid partially by a HOP card system, linking with the HOP cards that are available at the… [Read full story]
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