[7][6] Once completed the new state highway will create a more direct and quicker route between the Whangaparāoa Peninsula and central Auckland in New Zealand.

The approximately 7-kilometre-long (4.3-mile) Penlink route begins at a new interchange with the Northern Motorway connecting the Whangaparaoa Peninsula with State Highway 1 at Redvale.

[8] The interchange will also include a vehicle connection to East Coast Road, where pedestrians and cyclists can also access the route.

[10] Plans to bridge the Weiti River near Stillwater were first envisaged as early as the 1970s as a way to solve numerous transport issues connecting the Whangaparāoa Peninsula to Auckland City.

Prior to the 2008 election, the then Government promised to fund a toll-free joint Regional Fuel Tax (80%) and Council (20%) proposal.

[19] By 2018 Penlink was downscaled back to a two-lane road without provision for a dynamic lane, cycle, bus or walking facilities despite protests from locals and politicians.

[22] Locals expressed concern that the project had been kept as a two-lane highway, likening it to the Harbour Bridge, which had to be widened not long after construction to cope with traffic.

[25] After many years of delays, changes to the project and cost increases, work finally began in late 2022 with an official sod-turning ceremony.