Where Is Auckland’s Tunnel Vision?

Unveiling Transit NZ’s updated 10-year Auckland State Highway construction programme last August, the Prime Minister Helen Clark endorsed a tunnel for the Avondale section of the SH20 Western Ring Route as a “modern city” solution to minimise adverse impacts on the local environment and community.

She was responding to a question suggesting that a tunnel was unnecessary and would be too expensive for the benefits offered compared to a traditional surface motorway. There is no tunnel on other sections, why should the Avondale Extension be treated differently?

The question-answer was a timely prompt for Tonkin & Taylor Director Peter Millar to pose at today’s Underground Auckland Symposium launching the Institute of Earth Sciences and Engineering at Auckland University whether Auckland should make more use of tunnels, and how their advantages might be better evaluated in the policy development and decision-making process to determine the Auckland region’s transport strategy..

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