Billions of dollars of new development around Circular Quay has sparked a renewed push for a solution to one of the city's most notorious eyesores – the Cahill Expressway.

One of the area's oldest residents, AMP, which built Sydney's first skyscraper, has urged the NSW government to set its sights on the roadway in its discussions about how to reinvigorate the precinct.

Long pilloried as a blight on the city landscape, the 1950s expressway that carves across Sydney's famous harbour now sits amid a major building boom. Nearby projects include redevelopments of Gold Fields House, the Gateway and Coca-Cola Amatil buildings, as well as an overhaul of the ferry wharves and construction of the light rail.

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating tried and failed to have it buried, but the novel element in the latest suggestion is not to necessarily remove the expressway, but to build around it.