Community open days in Owairaka and New Windsor
Come and learn more about what's going on in the area and speak to a member of the project team.
- Thursday 10 May 12pm - 8pm
- Friday 11 May 8am - 4pm
- Saturday 12 May 8am - 4pm
Location: 4 Valonia Street in New Windsor. (Valonia Street will be closed to motorists so there will be pedestrian access only)
For more information, freephone 0508 TUNNEL (88 66 35) or email info@wellconnected.co.nz.
Completing the Western Ring Route is of huge strategic importance to the country’s economic growth, and as such has been nominated by the New Zealand Government as one of 7 Roads of National Significance. Currently all Auckland through-traffic, which can reach daily vehicle counts of up to 200,000, must use State Highway 1 which passes through the city’s Central Motorway Junction and over the Auckland Harbour Bridge. By creating a viable motorway alternative for through-traffic, the Western Ring Route will enhance safety and journey time reliability throughout the region, and reduce the burden on the Harbour Bridge – an iconic yet ageing piece of Auckland’s infrastructure.
The Waterview Connection will also create a direct motorway route from the CBD to the airport, reducing traffic on local roads and cutting travel time between the two points by over 15 minutes.
More than half of this new motorway link will be underground … a long way underground. A custom-built, 14m diameter ‘Earth Pressure Balance Machine’ (EPBM) will bore twin tunnels as deep as 45 metres beneath the surface, to pass below the hard-rock legacy of the region’s volcanic activity. The option to tunnel - rather than provide a uniquely over-ground motorway link - reflects local public preference and demonstrates a fair balance between contributing to Auckland’s economic development and meeting the needs of the surrounding communities.
Tunnelling is expensive, and accounts for over two-thirds of the Waterview Connection project’s $1.4b budget. Furthermore the size of the tunnelling machine will put New Zealand in the tunnelling ‘big league’, as it will be the 11th largest machine created to-date worldwide, and the tunnel it creates will be the largest ever to be built in Australasia. However, not all the work will be carried out underground, and not all will be for the unique benefit of motorway users.
The Waterview Connection project will also integrate road bridges, cycleways and pedestrian bridges within a suite of urban design, landscaping and environmental enhancements. The inclusion of these elements will be complemented by ongoing community involvement, as the NZTA commits to delivering its biggest project with maximum benefit and minimum disruption to the local community.
To do this, the NZTA has appointed a specialist team, known as the Well-Connected Alliance, to manage the design, construction and operation of the Waterview Connection. Comprising NZTA, Fletcher Construction, McConnell Dowell Constructors, Parsons Brinkerhoff NZ, Beca Infrastructure, Tonkin and Taylor, and Japanese construction company Obayashi Corporation – the Well-Connected Alliance brings together the knowledge and strong, home-grown reputation of leading New Zealand engineering companies with the world-class tunnelling expertise of its international partners.
Tunnelling on the Waterview Connection is expected to commence in early 2014, with the Western Ring Route completed and opened by 2017.
