The average cost of a pedestrian crossing in Auckland has reached $470,000 but an Auckland councillor has had enough of the "ludicrous spending".

Auckland Transport spokesman Mark Lambert said despite the high cost of the 27 planned signalised crossings, they are necessary in high risk areas such as schools.

But councillor Maurice Williamson told the Mike Hosking Breakfast his time as transport minister was proof that road safety can be done for much cheaper.

– "The entire time I was minister, we brought in the photo driver's license, much to the media's war against me on it, and the road toll came down every year," he said.

"We spent nowhere near the sums of money on the issues that they're doing."

Hosking asked Williamson, had he not been provided with the average costings, how much he would guess a pedestrian crossing would cost.

Williamson said he would have assumed around $40,000 and couldn't understand how the price had inflated to such a large sum of money.

“Given you can build a three-bedroom house with a walk-in pantry, a media room, two bathrooms and a double garage for less - I think it's insanity."

He said the ultimate argument over justifying the cost came down to it being a safety issue, but his belief was safety should come at a reasonable cost - "not safety at any cost".

Auckland Transport oversees the budget costings for its projects, such as pedestrian crossings. The only involvement Auckland Council has is during budget time.

"And quite frankly, [Auckland Transport] needs to be reined in," said Williamson.

"It's ludicrous spending."

Hosking asked whether everybody around the table would agree the pedestrian costings are too high, to which Williamson strongly suggested there would be those in the council who would ultimately defend the price in the name of driver safety.

He said some would view his side as an argument that he doesn't care about drivers' or pedestrians' lives.

Williamson argued the council could bring the road toll down to zero by dropping the speed limit to 10km, a notion he branded as "insanity" and that would crash the economy but would prove his point.

"People drown in the bath, for God's sake, should we have a bunch of bureaucrats going around the country ripping out baths and having everybody with a bath prosecuted?" he said.

"You've got to start being a bit sensible about how you do want the road toll down, you do want safety but it's got to be at a reasonable cost."