What began as the dream of a rebellious and curious teenager could soon become a reality.

Unknown to most, 3.6 km worth of air raid tunnels have laid abandoned under Auckland’s Albert Park since the end of World War II.

Built by 114 men in just eight months, with no help from modern machinery, the tunnels snake in various directions under the popular park.

Originally built to shelter 22,000 Auckland citizens on the off chance Japan ever decided to invade New Zealand, the tunnels were largely filled in and the entrances were sealed once the structural quality began to deteriorate after the war.

Since April 1946, they’ve been left to rot and for the most part, forgotten about.

But one man has decided it's time for that to change. For the last 27 years, Bill Reid has been a man on a mission.

He says it all started when he was a third form student at Seddon Memorial Technical College – now the Auckland University of Technology city campus.

Mr Reid says only fifth and sixth form students had the privilege of leaving school grounds to go across to Albert Park at lunch time – “but being as I was I used to go across.”

He says when he went across to the park, he noticed green tin domes dotted around.

“I enquired as to what they were and somebody told me they were air vents for the air raid tunnels underneath,” he says.

“Very curious back then I searched all over, under and around Albert Park and found nothing, absolutely nothing, no entries, no nothing.”

Not one to give up, Mr Reid spent approximately two years searching the Auckland City Council archives until 1988 when he felt he’d gathered sufficient evidence of what he’d found.

“I approached Michael Wood, who was the then CEO of Auckland Council and asked him if I could have sole and exclusive rights to the tunnels of Albert Park.

“Not even the chief executive of the city council back then knew about them. Nobody knows about them, nobody.”

Mr Reid says during his quest, there’s been “a lot of doors opened, [and] more than a lot of doors closed on me.”

He says the hidden nature of the tunnels has made it hard to break down the barriers standing in his way.

“It’s not a thing people can see – it’s not like a house [where] you can see it so you buy it.”

Mr Reid wants to turn the tunnels into a tourism hotspot – his main vision is to turn the main tunnel, which runs for 600m from the top of Victoria Street East in Auckland’s CBD to the bottom of Constitution Hill in Parnell, into a public cycle way and walking track which he says would open up a better link between Queen Street and Parnell.

Mr Reid frequently documents his quest to develop the tunnels on Facebook, where his page has more than 9300 ‘likes’.

The Facebook page also lists ideas from interested investors, including black water rafting, a genuine wine cellar and a glow worm cave.

He’s written emails to fellow Parnell resident, Minister of Tourism and Prime Minister John Key along with Minister of Transport Simon Bridges, but with no success.

Mr Reid has had the cost of developing the tunnels professionally quoted by a major Australasian tunneling company and he says the price is not unreasonable.

“They’ve given me a guesstimate of $6 million to empty the tunnels of clay blocks, line the tunnels, ventilate, light and pave the tunnels - $6 million is all and for Auckland that is nothing.”

Despite all the setbacks, Mr Reid promises he won’t give up.

“I have never once asked for anything from Auckland Council - what I envisage is for Auckland City and Auckland City citizens.”