19 OCTOBER 2015

Waterview Connection reaches another important milestone

The AA welcomes the latest milestone in Auckland’s $1.4 billion Waterview Connection, with excavation of the project’s second motorway tunnel now complete.

This morning Alice, the tunnel boring machine, reached daylight after nearly a year underground digging the 2.4km southbound tunnel. This follows completion of the northbound tunnel in September last year.

AA spokesman Barney Irvine congratulated the NZ Transport Agency and its partners.

“This is the largest roading project in New Zealand’s history, and to get through to this critical stage – seemingly without a hitch – is a huge achievement,” he said. “The Transport Agency and its team have done a fantastic job.”

Mr Irvine said excitement was starting to build about the impact the project would have once it became operational.

“From early 2017, Auckland will have a second motorway running through the city, and that will take a massive load off the rest of the network,” he said. “The benefits for moving people and goods around Auckland – and the whole of the Upper North Island – will be immense.”

Mr Irvine said the AA was pleased to see the onward march of the Government’s Roads of National Significance programme.

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