Proposals for a Haast-Hollyford road first emerged in the 1870s and regularly resurface. The latest incarnation appeared in the past six months and is backed by long-time road advocate and former Westland mayor Durham Havill.
He claims the project would cost $220 million and follow a paper road much of the way. He has received strong support from Westland and Southland interests, including from Te Anau.
The plan is sometimes seen in the same light as the schemes to bring tourists more directly from Queenstown to Milford Sound; the now rejected Caples gondola and Routeburn tunnel ideas as well as the monorail connection from Queenstown past Mavora Lakes to Te Anau Downs.
This last option awaits a decision from the Conservation Minister.
In one sense, the Haast-Hollyford road is different altogether in that it circumvents Queenstown. In another, it could be seen as part of a round trip linking Westland, Milford and potentially Queenstown.
Mr Havill predicts 900,000 tourists a year, each paying a $20 toll, could use the road in its first year.
That is a massive tally, and appears unrealistic given it is double the current number of tourists to Westland.
Many visitors, in any event, would have neither the time nor inclination to head south through more forests and mountains and on to the Milford road, preferring to head across the Haast Pass to Wanaka or Queenstown.
The $20 toll would bring in a gross amount, on 900,000 travellers, of $18 million. From that would have to come all costs, including road maintenance. Any return on investment would be low.
Most significantly, the $220 million seems grossly understated.
There are at least two major rivers to bridge and the area is by a major earthquake fault line and through country prone to slips and heavy rain. Just look at what occurred in the Haast last year with the slips at Diana Falls.
The Federated Mountain Clubs has had two roading engineers tell it the road would cost more than $1 billion.
But even before construction costs should be considered comes the issue of consents.
The road runs through two national parks and a Unesco World Heritage area. It would destroy the isolation of the Olivine Wilderness Area and trigger massive opposition - far beyond that against the tunnel and monorail proposals.
There have also been suspicions raised, in part because one potential backer has mining connections, that a reason for the road is because it would enable access to rich mineral deposits. In the 1970s, a road was bulldozed from the Cascade River end to get to asbestos.
Mr Havill's company, Haast-Hollyford Highway Ltd, would need to find at least $5 million to start the resource consent process. Although there are backers in the wings, no-one has yet come up with the money.
If the present road into South Westland led nowhere, arguments for a route to Milford would be stronger.
There is, however, the highway to Makarora which affords motorists a beautiful drive and transition from the rainforests of the west, through the mountains, into tussock lands and Central Otago and Queenstown.
Last Thursday, another difficulty was revealed with Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson saying the project could not proceed unless it could be proved in court that the paper road status, required for much of the route, had been illegally removed from maps in 1976, as alleged.
Notable has been the repeated lack of enthusiasm from a Government keen on development where possible.
In 2010, the Ministry of Economic Development advised its minister, Gerry Brownlee, the road might only tweak this country's tourism product, would not constitute a nationally significant tourism development - and might be in conflict with the 100% Pure New Zealand brand.
Despite some backing from west and south, the road proposal faces too many hurdles and too many drawbacks to become a reality for many years.
