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The Infrastructure Commission Te Waihanga is suggesting a phased approach to the huge cost of new highways, using the example of building three lanes - two one way, one the other - instead of four lanes at first.
MPs at the start of Scrutiny Week on Monday voiced concerns at the affordability of the government's Roads of National Significance or RONS.
Chief executive Geoff Cooper told them, "The scale of the transportation investment we see obviously exceeds our capacity to fund."
Affording RONS as-is and soon would require a 70 percent rise in fuel excise duty, he said.
The risk with projects was always of investing too little and slipping behind into congestion, or too much and ending up with assets to maintain
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