North Shore City Council supports city-side north-bound tunnel

North Shore City Council has committed its support to Transit New Zealand's Harbour Bridge to City Project, which will feature a north-bound tunnel to increase traffic volume south of the harbour bridge.

The council tonight re-confirmed its support for the project following Transit New Zealand's briefing to the infrastructure and environment committee in early June.

"The proposed north-bound tunnel is great news for North Shore City motorists heading across the harbour bridge in peak periods because it will eliminate the bottle-neck at the Victoria Park flyover," says North Shore City's infrastructure and environment committee chairperson, Tony Barker.

"This will be achieved by re-configuring the existing flyover so that it carries only south-bound traffic," he says.

Transit New Zealand told the committee that the proposed north-bound tunnel will run under Victoria Park. The tunnel will help to significantly boost roading capacity of north and south-bound traffic in the area - bringing it in line with adjacent sections of State Highway 1. Transit hope to make good progress through the design, consultation and consents processes, in order to begin construction in the 2008/09 financial year.