Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Finally, and after a long bloody wait, we've got a date for the opening of Auckland's CRL, the underground train line: September 13.
Actually, the date doesn't really matter. September 6, September 20, September 13, who cares? What matters is that it's opening, it works and it's ready to go.
This thing has been a long time coming. It's taken a decade to build. It's taken so long, and disrupted Auckland commuters and businesses for so long, that it's actually hard to remember a time when they weren't digging up the middle of the city.
I don't know if you realise this but it's actually been talked about for 100 years. Back in the 1920s, it was called the Morningside Deviation. It was supposed to run from Beach Road near Parnell, then go under the CBD, up the hill, with a station at the Auckland Town Hall, before joining the western line at Morningside.
It never happened because, like we always do, we quibbled about costs, worried about spending too much and delayed building a piece of infrastructure that we will never regret.
Ten, 20, 100 years from now, no one's going to remember this debate about spending too much or overbuilding the cathedral ceilings of the CRL. People will simply use it every day. It will be normal.
I don't think it's going too far to say that the CRL is a game changer for our biggest city. Auckland is besieged by traffic snarls. They're so frequent and so bad that I often choose to buy my stuff online rather than drive 10 minutes to a mall because I just can't be bothered with the traffic.
This train line will give people the option to move quickly around the city without having to sit in traffic or risk their lives on a bike. It will definitely, definitely, definitely lead to densification around the city centre as developments spring up near the train stations. It will definitely save people time on their commutes as they travel faster and live closer to where they work.
It actually feels to me a little bit like a coming of age for Auckland. Auckland likes to consider itself a world-class city. If you want to be a world-class city, you need some world-class infrastructure.
So, September 13.
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In the first episode of the 100 Years of ZB Podcast, Mike Hosking takes you through the birth of the iconic 1ZB in 1926.
The episode takes you through the history of the station from 1926 until the beginning of 1987. You'll hear snippets from the iconic names - like Phil Shone, Aunt Daisy, Selwyn Toogood, Merv Smith and Marina (Jocelyn Parr).
Mike Hosking will also take you back in time to the famous moments from the 1ZB Theatre in Auckland - and the radio dramas that made the station an unmissable listen.
You'll also hear how 1ZB covered the big stories over that time - including the World War Two, the Wahine Disaster and the 1981 Springbok Tour.
100 Years of ZB - Celebrating a century of New Zealand's conversation. Archival audio from the collections at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.
New episodes every Sunday on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts - powered by Newstalk ZB.
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Listen to the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Friday 7 August.
Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sports Journalist Nathan Limm and ZB Rugby Commentator Hamish McKay join Heather du Plessis-Allan for the sports huddle.
On the table today: Joseph Parker has explained what happened between him, his nutritionist and a cocaine test.
The trio looks at the state of Netball - with international success but domestic uncertainty, are the Silver Ferns actually excited to head back to New Zealand?
And Luke Metcalf has been called up for the Warriors - is he going to make the difference?
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Shane Jones has been chewed out by the Road Carriers Association for suggesting four-lane highways are a thing of the past.
The NZ First MP says he doesn't expect any more to be built in his lifetime, because they're too expensive to justify.
But Road Carriers Association Advocacy General Manger James Smith says this is one of the dumbest things he's ever heard from a politician.
He told Heather du Plessis-Allan that four lane highways deliver safety and productivity.
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