Fifty-nine houses are to be demolished after Auckland Transport was given the green light for a 9km arterial road in south Auckland.
The upgrade of Mill and Redoubt Roads will cost $300 million and will cater to local traffic heading north and south through an area zoned for about 10,000 homes in the future.
Auckland Transport told a planning hearing the effects on private properties were significant, but were part of the "societal cost" of living in a modern and evolving city.
Parts of more than 250 other properties will also be acquired under the Public Works Act.
Fourteen individual submitters appeared before the planning hearing, as well as groups such as those interested in the ecological effects of the loss of native bush.
The agency will now consider whether to accept the planning approval and conditions attached to it.