Auckland wasn't using the regional fuel tax the way national wanted them to, so they took it away.

Notice that the really big projects are not even costed yet, so those are going to be even more funding.

This article is behind a paywall, but if you consume the NZ Horror via an RSS reader you can view the full article. It details a lot of the stuff every other article talks about in the switch away from cycling to roads etc.

But it also provides a fuller picture of how this largesse on roads is actually being funded. A significant chunk (enough to build 1 1/2 Dunedin Hospitals) is coming from the Government's other income.

Ie this isn't even fully funded from the land transport fund, mostly because its such a massive increase in spending on roads from the previous 3 year NLTP which was already a record funding allocation on the back of the 3 years before being a record funding allocation.

So if you're in hospital in Tasman, Otago or Hawkes Bay and wondering why your ward is such an old cramped awful building, this is one of the reasons why - bigger, more expensive roads are being built to allow freight companies to drive their bigger, heavier trucks faster.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/national-land-transport-programme-government-has-a-hospital-sized-hole-in-its-transport-plan/LX7PV4XIXJFILNRV6WKNRGTESM/