A controversial 75m walkway off the end of Auckland's Queens Wharf now appears unlikely.
An illustration of the proposed 75m walkway. Photo: Boffa Miskell Visual Assessment Report
Auckland councillors will next week consider a more compact mooring system for large cruise ships, rather than one originally proposed with a connecting walkway.
RNZ revealed last year the plan by a council agency to build the mooring structure, 75m off the end of the existing wharf, prompting the then-new mayor Phil Goff to demand a re-think.
The preferred option was now a mooring structure, or "dolphin" to be built adjoining the end of the existing wharf, to accommodate ships currently too long to berth at the city wharves.
The council's planning committee meets on Tuesday to sign-off the preferred option, which the council hoped could be built for the summer after next.
The oversized Ovation of the Seas this summer became the first cruise ship to have to remain in Auckland's inner harbour, and shuttle passengers ashore in launches.
Extending Auckland's downtown wharves into the Waitemata Harbour has become a political flashpoint after public protest successfully stopped a previous port plan to extend Bledisloe wharf.
