OPINION: The further you live from Auckland, the more galling it must be to see the eye-watering sums being invested in the country's biggest city.

Almost half of the $6.8 billion transport spend confirmed by the government on Wednesday will be spent in Auckland.

If you think that's too much, I've got some bad news for you.

SUPPLIED The Government has committed $360 million to a cycling and walking add-on to Auckland's Harbour Bridge.

Auckland is not just big, it's growing rapidly, and the answers to its needs have lifted to a scale not previously seen in this country.

READ MORE:

* $12 billion infrastructure announcement: Mill Rd, Penlink advance

* Labour, National go head-to head with transport plans

* Is Auckland's light rail the Government's biggest bungle?

* What you need to know about the $28b Auckland Transport Alignment Project

And for a Government wanting to demonstrate action in election year, Auckland is an easy target. It has a lot of targets well-advanced in the planning stages – "shovel-ready" is the catchy phrase.

LAWRENCE SMITH/STUFF Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces a 12 billion dollar infrastructure package covering transport, schools, hospitals and roading.

The $411 million Penlink highway onto the Whangaparaoa Peninsula has been bouncing around for well over a decade, moving up and down priority lists.

Eventually growth answers the question about whether it really is a priority.

Auckland, as its mayor Phil Goff is wont to remind us, will account for about a half of the country's future population growth.

LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff National leader Simon Bridges responds to Labour's latest round of infrastructure spending by holding a press conference close to the Waterview Tunnel in Auckland.

So on that basis, is half of today's spend too much?

The biggest ticket item is the $1.3 billion, 21km Mill Road arterial road in the south. Add $423 million for upgrading the parallel southern motorway and $618 million for rail upgrades in the south, and you're heading to $2.4 billion for just one of Auckland's major growth areas.

The south is expected to grow by the population of Dunedin in the next three decades.

AUCKLAND TRANSPORT The Mill Rd arterial will provide an alternative to State Highway 1 in south Auckland.

It is the kind of growth that can no longer be served by new roads and some bus shelters.

There is the partly-built City Rail Link, a 3.5 km twin-tunnel rail line under the city centre costing about $4.4 billion, which will nearly double the capacity of the commuter rail system.

Wednesday's infrastructure bundle, called the New Zealand Upgrade Programme, includes only part of what Auckland needs in the next years.

LAWRENCE SMITH/STUFF Major roads will be built years earlier in Auckland in a $3.3 billion spend-up around the city unveiled by the Government today.

Don't forget about light rail, which we will hear more about in March. It is a project often tagged with a $6 billion price, but will certainly be more – regardless of whether it is paid for upfront or over future decades.

There is also the question of moving Auckland's port to Marsden Point, which had a back-of-the-envelope cost of $10 billion and which the Government has yet to take a firm position on.

Auckland is no longer just one of the "four main centres". It is a city of a scale and complexity unknown in New Zealand's experience so far, and as its commercial capital, it needs to function well.

If you think Auckland is getting more than its share, come and try to commute daily from an outer suburb, or pick any motorway you like during a rush hour and feel an hour or so of your life ebb away.

The fact other other parts of the country don't have Auckland's needs should be seen as their blessing.