Auckland’s Waterview Connection reaches important stage
Auckland’s Waterview Connection project reaches
important stage
The NZ Transport Agency
says completion of Auckland’s Western Ring Route marks a
significant milestone tonight (Sunday 30 September) with the
start of enabling works at Waterview at the northern end of
the Waterview Connection project.
There will
be changes overnight to one of west Auckland’s key
arterial routes through the Waterview area when the lanes on
the Great North Road are narrowed slightly and realigned.
The NZTA’s State Highways Manager for Auckland
and Northland, Tommy Parker, says all lanes in both
directions on the Great North Road will remain open
throughout the Waterview Connection project, but people
should drive with caution and now be prepared for slight
delays at peak times.
“Construction activity in
Waterview will also affect local pedestrian access, and we
are asking drivers to respect the speed limit and be extra
vigilant when passing through the Waterview community,” Mr
Parker says.
The changes to the Great North Road
are one part of the enabling works in Waterview by the
NZTA’s project delivery partners for the Waterview
Connection, the Well-Connected Alliance. During the next
few months, the enabling works will include providing more
park space to offset the temporary loss of land required by
the project team on the existing Waterview Reserve, the
staged removal of 96 NZTA-owned properties in north
Waterview, relocating services and the construction of noise
walls.
When completed, construction will start in
the New Year on the project’s northern tunnel portal.
“This is an important step for the project, and
we ask for the community’s continued support and patience
as we work to complete this project as quickly as we can,”
Mr Parker says.
The $1.4b Waterview
Connection is New Zealand’s biggest and most complex
roading project, and includes twin 2.4km-long three-lane
tunnels.
The project is planned to finish in 2016
and complete the key link in the Western Ring Route,
identified by the Government as a road of national
significance to contribute to New Zealand’s economic
growth and prosperity. It will connect the Southwestern
(State Highway 20) and Northwestern (SH16) motorways - a 48
kilometre motorway alternative for commercial transport
operators, businesses, commuters and tourists that will ease
pressure on SH1 and the Auckland Harbour Bridge
As enabling works gear up at Waterview, activity
is well advanced at the southern entrance to the tunnel. The
project team has been excavating layers of volcanic rock
through a series of controlled blasting.
A
trench 30 metres deep is being excavated to accommodate the
arrival next July of the project’s tunnel boring
machine. The 14 metre diameter machine, designed in
Germany and being built in China, will take a year to
complete its 2.4 kilometre-long journey to Waterview where
it will be turned around to burrow its way back south and
complete the twin tunnels.
“The enabling works
at Waterview are important preparations to ensure that we
can get the most efficient and smartest use from this
machine as is possible, and that will have dividends for
both those people neighbouring the project and the wider
Auckland community.” Mr Parker says.
ENDS