after improvements to the central motorway junction directly to the south in the early 2000s, transit new zealand, the highways authority, initially proposed a widening of the viaduct, which met with opposition from locals as well as from the auckland city council and the auckland regional council, because it would further burden the victoria park area with more traffic and a larger overpass structure. in 2004 the authority agreed that instead of a second viaduct, the 'vic park tunnel' should be built, carrying northbound traffic only west of the existing structure, freeing it for southbound traffic.