Transport Minister Steven Joyce says he expects a final decision by the end of the year on whether to build the Transmission Gully road, north of Wellington.
The Government has named Wellington's northern corridor as one of seven nationally significant road projects as priority.
But final decisions on what will be built still lie with the New Zealand Transport Agency.
The previous Government had indicated it would fund $400 million of the projected $1 billion cost of Transmission Gully, leaving local councils to raise the rest.
But Mr Joyce says the Government had not set aside that money, and no one has come up with ideas on how to raise $600 million locally.
