Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Work smarter with a Pro licence Learn More

Local Govt | National News Video | Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Search

 

Alice taking a short break at Waterview


10 March 2014 | NZ Transport Agency – Auckland

Alice taking a short break at Waterview

Drilling at the Waterview Connection project in Auckland is stopping for three weeks while workers get ready for the next stage of the massive motorway project.

During the break, a giant white gantry will be pushed into the tunnel behind Alice, the project’s tunnel boring machine.

The gantry will be used to lift into place large concrete culverts each about 2 metres tall and weighing 5 tonnes that will create a passageway on the tunnel floor to carry services like water, electricity and telecommunications links below the new motorway.

“We had originally planned to stop tunnelling for 6 weeks to get the gantry into place, but thanks to a lot of preparatory work and clever innovation on site we’ve managed to cut the time in half,” says the NZ Transport Agency’s Highway Manager, Tommy Parker.

The gantry is the first of its kind in the world and was designed by Herrenknecht, the German company that constructed Alice.

It arrived in New Zealand in parts and was re-assembled outside the entrance to the southern portal. It will be moved into the tunnel in the next few days. It is 95m long – the same length as Alice – and weighs 400 tonnes.

“Waterview is the country’s largest roading project, and the gantry is another example of the size and complexity of the work that’s underway there,” says Mr Parker.

Twin 2.4km-long tunnels, both 13.1m in diameter, are being constructed to connect Auckland’s Southwestern (SH20) and Northwestern (SH16) motorways as part of the city’s Western Ring Route, one of the Government’s flagship Roads Of National Significance (RONS). Each tunnel will carry three lanes of motorway traffic.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

Alice has now reached the 500m mark on her journey north to construct the first of the two tunnels. She is 30m below ground, and will eventually reach a depth of 45m.

Mr Parker says the lifting gantry has been designed so that Alice can continue her work uninterrupted when tunnelling resumes. Supplies, like the concrete segments of tunnel linings that Alice installs, will be transported along a special “tunnel trail” running over the new culvert and the gantry, down a ramp to the tunnel floor and then on to the TBM.

“The priority will always be to keep Alice moving north a few hundred metres ahead of the gantry.”

The Waterview project is being delivered by the Well-Connected Alliance which includes the Transport Agency, Fletcher Construction, McConnell Dowell, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Beca Infrastructure, Tonkin & Taylor and Japanese construction company Obayashi Corporation. Sub-alliance partners are Auckland-based Wilson Tunnelling and Spanish tunnel controls specialists SICE.

Four other related projects on the Northwestern Motorway to complete the Western Ring Route RONS – upgrades of the Lincoln Road and Te Atatu Road interchanges, the Causeway Upgrade Project and widening the motorway between the St Lukes and Great North Road interchanges – are underway or about to start construction.

Mr Parkers says those projects will be completed before the tunnels at Waterview open in early 2017.

For more project information contact: nzta.govt.nz/projects/waterviewconnection

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines


Gordon Campbell: On The US Opposition To Mortgage Interest Deductibility For Landlords


Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don't think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of political capital by giving landlords a huge $2.9 billion tax break via interest deductibility, while still preaching the need for austerity to the disabled, and to everyone else...
More


 
 

Government: Concerns Conveyed To China Over Cyber Activity
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity... More

ALSO:


Government: GDP Decline Reinforces Government’s Fiscal Plan

Declining GDP for the December quarter reinforces the importance of restoring fiscal discipline to public spending and driving more economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says... More

ALSO:


Government: Humanitarian Support For Gaza & West Bank

Winston Peters has announced NZ is providing a further $5M to respond to the extreme humanitarian need in Gaza and the West Bank. “The impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict on civilians is absolutely appalling," he said... More


Government: New High Court Judge Appointed

Judith Collins has announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister Jason Scott McHerron as a High Court Judge. Justice McHerron graduated from the University of Otago with a BA in English Literature in 1994 and an LLB in 1996... More

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.