The Waterview Connection is a motorway section through west/central
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
, New Zealand. It connects
State Highway 20 in the south at
Mt Roskill to
State Highway 16 in the west at
Point Chevalier
Point Chevalier (; commonly known as Point Chev and an original colonial name of Point Bunbury after Thomas Bunbury) is a residential suburb and peninsula in the city of Auckland in the north of New Zealand. It is located five kilometres to ...
, and is a part of the
Western Ring Route
The Western Ring Route is a motorway system being constructed in Auckland, New Zealand. It currently runs along (from south to north) the entire Southwestern Motorway (State Highway 20), most of the Northwestern Motorway (part of SH 16), the ...
.
The Waterview Connection is 4.5 km long, of which 2.5 km are in the form of twin tunnels. The
Waterview Tunnel
The Waterview Tunnel is a twin road tunnel in central Auckland, New Zealand. At long, it is New Zealand's longest road tunnel. The tunnel, with three lanes of road vehicle traffic in each direction, connects State Highway 20 in the south at Mo ...
supersedes the
Lyttelton Road Tunnel
The Lyttelton road tunnel runs through the Port Hills to connect the New Zealand city of Christchurch and its seaport, Lyttelton, New Zealand, Lyttelton. It opened in 1964 and carries just over 10,000 vehicles per day as part of New Zealan ...
as New Zealand's longest road tunnels. By 2026, the link is expected to carry 83,000 vehicles a day.
[ There are three lanes of traffic in each tunnel.
]
Planning history
The project had an extensive planning history, with the earliest consultation in 2000,[ though the proposal for a route roughly in the area dates from much earlier.
]
Routes considered
Several routes were considered, all being variations of either a connection to SH16 along the Rosebank Peninsula
Rosebank (or the Rosebank Peninsula) is a peninsula and industrial suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is the westernmost point of the Auckland isthmus. The peninsula runs from the southeast in a northerly direction, with the Whau River on its ...
(e.g. AR1, AR3) or at the Great North Road interchange at Waterview (e.g. AW1, AW4).[Consultation](_blank)
(from the Transit New Zealand
Transit New Zealand (Māori: Ararau Aotearoa), which existed from 1989 to 2008, was the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for operating and planning the New Zealand state highway network (10,894 km, about 12% of New Zealand's roads). It ...
website) It was generally assumed that below-ground construction would be required where AR3 passed through Avondale Heights, to a maximum depth of 41 m. On the basis of technical and environmental assessments, the AR3 and AW4 route options were dismissed.
Transit New Zealand
Transit New Zealand (Māori: Ararau Aotearoa), which existed from 1989 to 2008, was the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for operating and planning the New Zealand state highway network (10,894 km, about 12% of New Zealand's roads). It ...
selected the Waterview connection as its preferred route,["AW1 is the confirmed preferred route for the Waterview Connection"](_blank)
Newsletter 8, February 2006 (from the SH20 project website of Transit New Zealand
Transit New Zealand (Māori: Ararau Aotearoa), which existed from 1989 to 2008, was the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for operating and planning the New Zealand state highway network (10,894 km, about 12% of New Zealand's roads). It ...
) with the support of the Auckland City Council[December 2005, Auckland City voted to support the extension of SH20 through Waterview](_blank)
/ref> and Waitakere City Council,["Waitakere City conditionally support Waterview option"](_blank)
9 February 2006, City Development Committee page 2-9["Waitakere City conditionally support Waterview option"](_blank)
27 November 2006, Council page 8 over the Rosebank option, which was the preferred route of the Auckland Regional Council
The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) was the regional council (one of the former local government authorities) of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989. The AR ...
.[14 March 2006, ARC media release](_blank)
ARC supports Rosebank route for SH20 extension
The previous AW1 and AW4 routes favoured a New North Road interchange with ramps facing south, and full connections at the Waterview interchange. The preferred route was announced with a Great North Road interchange replacing New North Road and no southbound access at Waterview. This proved unpopular with local residents, and it was considered unlikely a bored tunnel could accommodate an interchange because of its depth.
Bored tunnels preferred
On 7 February 2008, bored tunnels were announced as Transit's preferred option. The NZ Transport Agency
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (commonly known as Waka Kotahi, and abbreviated as NZTA) is a New Zealand Crown entity tasked with promoting safe and functional transport by land, including the responsibility for driver and vehicle licensing, an ...
's preferred option was a pair of two-lane tunnels costing $1.89 billion, rather than a pair of three-lane tunnels costing $2.14 billion. NZTA's traffic modelling indicated that two-lane tunnels would reach capacity within 10 years of operation.Map of Tunnel Route
Transit NZ's board resolved to seek a designation over land for a $1.89 billion pair of motorway tunnels through Waterview.[4 June 2008 TRANSIT BOARD SEEKS TO PROTECT TUNNEL ROUTE FOR WATERVIEW](_blank)
/ref> The board called for a report from officials on managing fumes from the tunnel "to benchmark the proposed approach incorporated in the design work to date against current international best practice". In response to submissions questioning the adequacy of just two traffic lanes running in each direction, it sought a comparative assessment of the operational performance and costs of providing three-lane tunnels, initially estimated at $2.14 billion.
Public-private partnership investigation
The government set up a joint public-private sector steering group to investigate the feasibility of a public-private partnership (PPP) as a procurement method for the Waterview Connection Project, evaluating the PPP alongside a conventional public sector procurement method to determine how the two methods compared in terms of value for money. The steering group had as an independent chairperson, Sir Brian Elwood
Sir Brian George Conway Elwood (born 5 April 1933) is a former New Zealand lawyer, politician, and public servant. He served as mayor of Palmerston North from 1971 to 1985, and was the Chief Ombudsman of New Zealand from December 1994 to June 2 ...
, and reported directly to the Ministers of Finance and Transport.
It was announced on 26 August 2008 that the steering group had advised the Government that a public-private partnership (PPP) - which would require a $2 toll per trip - was the best way of building the new $2 billion section of the city's Western Ring Route. Transport Minister Annette King asked officials to do more work on several critical factors before the Government committed to a PPP.
Air quality concerns
In October 2008 the NZ Transport Agency released report findings which showed that tunnel emissions would have a negligible effect on local air quality. These findings were disputed by Waterview Primary School representatives, who claimed that the report hadn't taken into account the impact of tolling "which could add more traffic to surface roads", hadn't given sufficient consideration to "international best practice on air filtering", and had failed to account for "ventilation fans being turned off during off-peak times, allowing emissions to escape through the tunnel openings". They also asked for reconsideration of "taking a section of the school’s playing field for use during the five-year construction period".
Concern was also expressed by developer Greg Burgess, who had consent for building 83 new homes 19 metres away from the Owairaka ventilation stack. The developer wanted the ventilation stack moved further away, but there were worries that fumes might be pushed closer to Christ the King School.
Request to reconsider Rosebank route
The Auckland Regional Council requested NZTA to reconsider whether the proposed Waterview Connection was the most cost-effective way of completing the Western Ring Road, with a reconsideration of the costs and benefits of
the alternative Rosebank route.[ARC agenda 24 November 2008 ](_blank)
/ref>[ARC minutes 24 November 2008](_blank)
/ref>
Cost of bored tunnels questioned
In 2009, the CEO of Federated Farmers
Federated Farmers of New Zealand is a lobby and advocacy group for all farmers: arable including fruit and vegetables, dairy and meat and their often remote communities. It has a network of 24 regional organisations and six industry groups. F ...
, Conor English (brother of Finance Minister Bill English
Sir Simon William English (born 30 December 1961) is a New Zealand former National Party politician who served as the 39th prime minister of New Zealand from 2016 to 2017 and as the 17th deputy prime minister of New Zealand and minister of f ...
), announced that Federated Farmers wanted the government to review the tunnelling with a view to cancelling it. He argued in an editorial that the project represented a "tunnel with no hill", costed at that time at about $1.9 billion or about $600 million a kilometre. Therefore, the motorway should instead be built as a surface road, and the savings invested into water storage projects benefitting farming.
On 30 January 2009 Transport Minister Steven Joyce
Steven Leonard Joyce (born 7 April 1963) is a New Zealand former politician, who entered the New Zealand House of Representatives in 2008 as a member of the New Zealand National Party. In the same year he became Minister of Transport and Minis ...
announced his concern with the $3.16 billion cost (including financing costs of more than $500 million and an upgrade of the nearby Northwestern Motorway for $240 million) of three-lane tunnels. Because he was "not comfortable" with the idea of reducing the tunnels to two lanes with no ability to enlarge them for future traffic demand, he gave officials until April to review all options for a connection of State Highway 20 to the Northwestern Motorway at Waterview, including a potentially disruptive surface route through Mount Albert and previously discarded "cut and cover" proposals. He was unable to predict a completion date for Auckland's 42 km western ring route, saying officials regarded a 2015 target of the previous Labour government as "aspirational".
Combination tunnel method announced
On 13 May 2009 NZTA announced its new preferred route for the Waterview Connection motorway as a combination of surface, bored tunnel and cut and cover tunnel. The tunnels would be constructed with provision for three lanes in each direction.
A raised surface motorway through Alan Wood Park[Transit Waterview Connection website, Allan Wood Reserve cross-section](_blank)
/ref> and the short section between the bored and cut and cover tunnel portals near the Great North Rd and Blockhouse Bay Rd intersection[Transit Waterview Connection website, Artist's impression of tunnel portal at Avondale Heights](_blank)
/ref> were the largest differences between this new preferred route and the previous bored tunnel option.[Transit Waterview Connection website, Route Map](_blank)
/ref> At $1,165 million, it was cheaper than the $1,974 million two-lane bored tunnel option and the $2,335 million three-lane bored tunnel option.[Transit Waterview Connection website, presentation of preferred route](_blank)
/ref>
Combined surface/tunnel alignment confirmed
On 11 September 2009 the NZTA Board confirmed the combined surface/tunnel alignment for the Waterview Connection. The Board was confident that the project's effects could be managed in a fair and reasonable way and that many of the community concerns would be addressed through good design. Over the following two months the NZTA was to provide the Board with details on how a range of issues would be addressed,[NZTA Media Release 11 Sep 09](_blank)
/ref> including:
* the subsequent process of engagement to be adopted with respect to the community and other stakeholders;
* air quality effects;
* open space replacement and enhancement;
* noise mitigation;
* other environmental impacts;
* tunnel design options to minimise or remove the separation between the 'bored' and 'cut and cover' tunnels;
* urban design – including cycle and walkway connections and access; and investigating a 'central' interchange;[NZTA Board paper 09/08/0250 Report on Community and Stakeholder Engagement (Supplementary Paper)](_blank)
/ref>
Subject to board approval on 27 November 2009 of a final design for the motorway, the NZTA was to lodge a land designation application early in 2010 with Auckland City, for a construction start in 2011-12 and completion in 2015.
/ref>
"Final" alignment confirmed
On 21 December 2009, NZTA announced that the tunnels would be built further east as continuous tunnels without an (open) gap halfway, and expressed confidence that they would be able to be completed within the original project budget. NZTA argued that this would be the most cost-effective option for constructing this section, and would require 205 houses to be bulldozed. Underground land would need to be purchased from 105 properties. The board had decided against including a central interchange at New North Road. Construction on the project was proposed to start in mid to late 2011 with an anticipated completion date in the 2015/16 financial year.
/ref>
The revised route map
/ref> shows road header constructed tunnels running from Alan Wood Park opposite Range View / Stewart Roads, under the north end of Hendon Ave and under Pak 'n Save, continuing under the ends of Powell St & Craddock St, under the Phyllis St softball fields, under the Oakley Creek waterfall and reserve with a final section of cut & cover under Great North Rd and emerging in Waterview Park as per previous options.
"Road of National Significance" & Fast-tracking
In 2009, Minister of Transport Steven Joyce
Steven Leonard Joyce (born 7 April 1963) is a New Zealand former politician, who entered the New Zealand House of Representatives in 2008 as a member of the New Zealand National Party. In the same year he became Minister of Transport and Minis ...
declared the project one of the "Roads of National Significance
Roads of National Significance (RoNS) was a name given by the 5th National Party Government, to a programme to speed up road construction in New Zealand between 2009 and 2017.
RoNS were first announced on 20 March 2009 by Transport Minister, ...
". Crucially, this step allowed the application to be considered by a new governmental body, the Environmental Protection Authority, a fast-track process which bypasses normal resource consent and Environment Court
The Environment Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Taiao o Aotearoa) is a specialist court for plans, resource consents and environmental issues. It mainly deals with issues arising under the Resource Management Act, meaning that it covers a ...
processes, in favour of a fixed 9-month process led by a "Board of Enquiry", whose decision cannot be appealed except on points of law. The decision to fast-track was cited as necessary to avoid approval delays which had held up other projects for over 15 years, though local groups were pessimistic about their chance to achieve fair mitigation within the tight process.
The tunnel sections would now be approximately 2.4 km long. Also included in the fast-tracked project was the decision to undertake significant capacity-related widening works on State Highway 16, which are outside of the Waterview area (from St Lukes Road interchange to beyond Te Atatū
Te Atatū (from the Māori : "the dawn") is the name of two adjacent suburbs in West Auckland, New Zealand: ''Te Atatū Peninsula'' and ''Te Atatū South''. They are located next to each other some 10 kilometres to the west of the Auckland city ...
), which were bundled into the application process which consists of 54 resource consents and 7 designations.
With around 40 folders of materials and plans to go through, local community groups expressed anger in October 2010 that they would have only four weeks to formulate submissions regarding the fast-tracked applications. Calls by Auckland City Council and an affected community board to extend the deadline were rejected on the grounds of the tight statutory timeframe.
Consent approvals
Process and hearing
The consenting process continued in parallel with the tendering process in order to save time. On 3 September 2010, NZTA's application for designation and resource consents for the Waterview Connection section of the Western Ring Route 'road of national significance project' was referred to a Board of Inquiry.[
The EPA publicly notified the application package on 18 September 2010, with the period for public submissions closing 15 October 2010. Evidence needed to be produced and provided to NZTA by 17 December 2010. The Board of Inquiry hearing took 16 days, finishing in March), with the final decision due by 20 June 2011, later amended to 30 June.][
A number of matters came into public focus during the hearings process. One of them was the shape and locations of the two proposed ventilation shaft buildings near the northern and southern tunnel entries, and their likely effect on local visual amenity (with the shafts, at 25m-27m height, proposed to tower visibly over surrounding suburban areas) and local air pollution levels (where an independent report considered that the NZTA had been too optimistic in terms of pollution conditions during traffic jams and due to ]induced demand
In economics, induced demand – related to latent demand and generated demandSchneider, Benjamin (September 6, 2018"CityLab University: Induced Demand"''CityLab'' – is the phenomenon whereby an increase in supply results in a decline ...
). Other matters included effects on local neighbourhoods, even those where demolition was not expected, such as for several apartment buildings directly adjacent to a multi-year construction site.
Board of Inquiry decision
On 9 May 2011 it was reported that the board had directed NZTA to, among other mitigation changes:[
* build the northern tunnel exhaust tower on the other (eastern) side of Great North Rd, further away from Waterview Primary School than planned - NZTA had opposed the change arguing extra costs of up to $29 million
* build the southern tunnel exhaust tower, in Owairaka, 70 to 80 metres southeast of NZTA's preferred site, away from a narrow chokepoint in Alan Wood Park, requiring a short extension to the 2.5 km tunnels, also reducing the project's open space displacement - NZTA had opposed the change arguing extra costs of up to $21 million
* build the two towers to a height of "15 metres above ground - not more - not less"
* pay $8 million towards construction of a walk- and cycleway between Owairaka and Waterview, to mitigate open space loss by providing local connections for the communities
The draft decision on the overall project was released end of May 2011, confirming the matters of the earlier direction, with the final result not significantly different] when released end of June 2011.
While community groups still expressed negative views about the motorway after the hearings process, many noted that they felt that the tunneling (compared to a 2009 surface alignment) and the added mitigation prescribed on NZTA by the board, had helped to make the result more acceptable for the local communities. While some described the process as a "David and Goliath
Goliath ( ) ''Goləyāṯ''; ar, جُليات ''Ǧulyāt'' (Christian term) or (Quranic term). is a character in the Book of Samuel, described as a Philistine giant defeated by the young David in single combat. The story signified King Saul's ...
" fight, most agreed that the board had handled the process well, and listened to local concerns.[
]
Construction
Start of enabling works
In March 2010, NZTA announced that $10 million enabling works would start at the southeastern end of the route, diverting a sewer line and a tributary of Oakley Creek in preparation for the new Maioro St interchange. While the works would occur on land already designated as motorway, local groups were concerned that the move preempted the consenting process for the main alignment, which still was to happen at that stage.
In October 2010, NZTA signed a contract with Fletcher construction to complete stage 2 of the $40m project at the Maioro Street interchange. In November 2010, NZTA continued to negotiate the acquiring of the Faulkner Collins factory and offices from Stoddard Rd in Mt Roskill under the public works act, in order to make way for the Maioro St interchange connection to Stoddard Rd. Faulkner Collins employees took turns sleeping at the factory, fearing that NZTA would change the locks during the night.
Contract awarded
16 November 2010, NZTA announced the two shortlisted competitors to construct the project, being two alliances of companies, one jointly led by McConnell Dowell
McConnell Dowell is a major infrastructure construction company founded in New Zealand in 1961. In 2003 it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Aveng, which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa.
History
McConnell Dowell was ...
and Fletcher Construction
The Fletcher Construction Company Limited is a New Zealand construction company and a subsidiary of Fletcher Building. Together with Higgins Contractors Ltd it makes up the Construction division of Fletcher Building. Fletcher Construction is wid ...
and one led by Fulton Hogan
Fulton Hogan is a large infrastructure construction, roadworks and aggregate supplier company in New Zealand, which is also active in wider Australasia.
The company was founded by Julius Fulton and Robert Hogan in Dunedin in 1933. In 2013 the c ...
in partnership with Australia's Leighton Contractors
CIMIC Group Limited (formerly Leighton Holdings) is an Australian construction contractor. It is active in the telecommunications, engineering and infrastructure, building and property, mining and resources, and environmental services industries ...
. A third consortium led by Baulderstone
Baulderstone, formerly Baulderstone Hornibrook, was an Australian construction company.
History MR Hornibrook
In 1926, Manuel Hornibrook founded a construction company in Brisbane. Amongst its notable projects were the Story Bridge and William Jo ...
missed out on selection. As of May 2010, it was known that each of the two remaining tenderers had about 140-150 staff preparing bids for the project, and one tenderer, after the decision, noted that they had spent about $18 million preparing the bid. Construction start was expected to be before Christmas 2011.[
In mid-2011, it was announced that the 'Well Connected' consortium led by ]Fletcher Construction
The Fletcher Construction Company Limited is a New Zealand construction company and a subsidiary of Fletcher Building. Together with Higgins Contractors Ltd it makes up the Construction division of Fletcher Building. Fletcher Construction is wid ...
had won the tender, for $1.3 billion. The consortium also included McConnell Dowell
McConnell Dowell is a major infrastructure construction company founded in New Zealand in 1961. In 2003 it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Aveng, which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa.
History
McConnell Dowell was ...
Obayashi Corporation
is one of five major Japanese construction companies along with Shimizu Corporation, Takenaka Corporation, Kajima Corporation, and Taisei Corporation. It is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is one of the Nikkei 225 corporations. Its head ...
, PB New Zealand, Beca Infrastructure and Tonkin + Taylor
Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includi ...
, as well as five sub-alliance partners and contractors: SICE, Wilson Tunnelling, Downer EDI Works, Boffa Miskell and Warren and Mahoney
Warren and Mahoney is an international architectural and interior design practice - one of the few third generation architectural practices in the history of New Zealand architecture. It is a highly awarded architectural practice, with offices ...
. The consortium worked on the alliance model, in which financial risks and incentives are shared among all partners.
Proposal to relocate northern vent stack
In December 2011, the construction consortium proposed relocating the northern stack from the east side of Great North Rd, to the north side of Herdman Street. As the Earth Pressure Balance
Earth pressure balance, or EPB, is a mechanised tunneling method in which the excavated material is used to support the tunnel face whilst it is being plasticised using foams/slurry & other additives to make it transportable and impermeable. The sp ...
tunnel boring machine
A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole", is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock strata. They may also be used for microtunneling. They can be designed to bore throu ...
(TBM) would be able to bore much closer to the surface than techniques assumed during the design phase, the cut and cover tunneling technique was not required below Great North Road. That meant that a duct below Great North Rd to a stack on the east side could not be constructed at the same time as the tunnels. The northern location for the stack had been studied earlier but dismissed because of greater cost, and the location had also created concerns among locals due to greater visual effects than that finally chosen by the Board of Inquiry.
Enabling works
Enabling works began in January 2012 between the Maioro Street interchange and Alan Wood Park and included:
* Establishment activities (e.g. construction zone fencing /project and way-finding signage)
* Removal of properties from within designation
* Construction of two temporary soccer fields (senior and junior), ablution block and a temporary car park at Valonia Street (with field drainage and grass seeding from March 2012)
* Site access for heavy vehicles from Richardson Rd (and 8-metre-wide haul road west through Hendon Park)
* Construction of temporary stream crossings (for construction vehicle access)
* Excavation and temporary diversion of a section of Oakley Creek adjacent to the sports fields to facilitate their construction
* Excavation of new stream channels in Alan Wood Park and temporary diversion of sections of Oakley Creek into the new alignment
* Diversion of utility services around Richardson Road to enable the construction of a road diversion
* Temporary realignment of Richardson Road while building new Richardson Rd bridge.
Local electricity distribution
Electric power distribution is the final stage in the delivery of electric power; it carries electricity from the transmission system to individual consumers. Distribution substations connect to the transmission system and lower the transmissio ...
company Vector
Vector most often refers to:
*Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction
*Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism
Vector may also refer to:
Mathematic ...
also carried out enabling works to supply electricity to the tunnel portal sites for construction, and included:
*Installing an 11 kV feeder line from the Chevalier zone substation on Great North Road to the northern portal site to supply the northern portal during construction.
*Installing a 33 kV capable, 22 kV operating, underground cable from the Avondale zone substation on Blockhouse Bay Road to the southern portal site to supply the southern portal and the TBM during construction. This also involved installing a 33 kV capable switchboard at Avondale to connect the tunnel supply to the two 22 kV cables feeding Avondale zone substation from the national grid at Mount Roskill.
*Installing a new 11 kV local feeder line from Chevalier zone substation to the Waterview area, to transfer some existing load off Avondale zone substation, as Avondale could not supply both the TBM and its existing load without overloading.
*Installing a second 22/11 kV transformer at the Chevalier zone substation, as the existing transformer could not supply the northern portal and Waterview feeder lines without overloading.
Southern Portal works
Beginning July 2012
Northern Portal works and Great North Road Interchange
Beginning May 2013 (note that works at the northern end will not initially involve tunnel boring)
Tunnelling
Opening
On 24 March 2017, it was announced that the planned April 2017 opening of the $1.6 billion project was being held up for another two months because of issues with its fire sprinklers. On 11 June 2017 it was announced that the tunnel would open in early July 2017. The tunnels opened at 12:47 am on 2 July 2017, with three police cars leading the first vehicles through the northbound tunnel.
Mitigation and related projects
A number of not directly motorway-related projects will form part of the SH20 connection works, either to mitigate negative effects on the environment, or to provide for other transport modes.
Avondale–Southdown railway line
Enabling works and allowance for the Avondale–Southdown Line are a part of constructing SH20.[FAQ How will the new section of motorway affect the existing Southdown rail designation](_blank)
(from the SH20 project website of Transit New Zealand
Transit New Zealand (Māori: Ararau Aotearoa), which existed from 1989 to 2008, was the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for operating and planning the New Zealand state highway network (10,894 km, about 12% of New Zealand's roads). It ...
)[SH20 Mt Roskill includes enabling works for a future rail line](_blank)
(from the Transit New Zealand
Transit New Zealand (Māori: Ararau Aotearoa), which existed from 1989 to 2008, was the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for operating and planning the New Zealand state highway network (10,894 km, about 12% of New Zealand's roads). It ...
website) KiwiRail
KiwiRail Holdings Limited is a New Zealand state-owned enterprise responsible for rail operations in New Zealand, and operates inter-island ferries. Trading as KiwiRail and headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, KiwiRail is the largest rail ...
sees this route as strategically important as it is the only real alternative for a cross-isthmus heavy rail route, as upgrading of the existing Newmarket Line
The Newmarket Line is a railway line in Auckland, New Zealand, that runs between Quay Park Junction, near Britomart Transport Centre, and Newmarket Train Station. It is 2.64 km long. It connects the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT), whic ...
is not realistically feasible or possible. KiwiRail requested that any tunnel construction not preclude rail above it in the future, nor the possibility of rail being trenched to cross below New North Road to connect to the existing North Auckland Line
The North Auckland Line (designation NAL) is a major section of New Zealand's national rail network, and is made up of the following parts: the portion of track that runs northward from Westfield Junction to Newmarket Station; from there, wes ...
.
Passive open space
Passive open space will be lost during construction of the motorway to construction lay down areas and lost permanently where the motorway & associated structures are built. NZTA has proposed replacement passive open space below & around the Waterview interchange ramps, and the existing privately owned empty site adjoining Alan Wood Park and future surface motorway.[NZTA project website](_blank)
/ref>
Active open space
The existing fields at Waterview Reserve and Alan Wood Park will be lost. NZTA propose to construct new fields adjacent to the Waterview interchange, and above the tunnel entrances at Alan Wood Park. These would likely be used as construction lay down areas during construction. During the project Expo's, NZTA had proposed to develop additional fields at Phyllis St for use during the construction period but this was dropped for the EPA submission.[Expo Posters](_blank)
/ref>
Walkways and cycleways
Documents shown during the public consultation phase in early 2010 showed a proposed walkway and cycleway generally following the line of the motorway / tunnel alignment, connecting the existing SH16 Cycleway with the end of the then-existing SH20 Cycleway, including a walking/cycling bridge over Oakley Creek
Oakley Creek ( mi, Te Auaunga) is a creek in Auckland, New Zealand. While heavily human-modified (being surrounded for most of its length by suburban development, especially in the upper reaches), it has a number of important ecological feature ...
at Phyllis Street. However, at lodgement time in 2010, NZTA clarified that it would only build cycleways along the sections that are ''not'' located in a tunnel, leaving the potential for a connecting cycleway between SH16 and SH20 in doubt.[
After a several-months-long hearing process, the Board of Inquiry in mid-2011 however came to the decision that a walkway and cycleway along the tunnel alignment was a required mitigation for open space loss in the areas around both tunnel portals (though not technically as transport mitigation), and that NZTA will have to pay for (though not build) the facility.][ Cycling advocates Cycle Action Auckland lauded the decision as a resounding win for cycling in Auckland, and a key part in making the Waterview Connection into a truly multi-modal project. The approximate route of the cycleway will be from near Alford Street in Waterview, crossing a new bridge over Oakley Creek, then through Phyllis Reserve, before crossing to Alan Wood Park in New Windsor/Owairaka via a new bridge over the rail line at Soljak Place.]
The bridge from Soljak Place over the railway to Harbutt Reserve is the first priority of the Alan Wood Park / Soljak Place to Waterview area cycleway, public consultation to be undertaken early 2012.[ONW community liaison meeting 2, meeting notes, 13 Dec 2011](_blank)
/ref>
Auckland Transport designed the 2.5 km long "Waterview Shared Path" from Alan Wood reserve, with construction happening from March 2016 to mid-2017.
Maioro Street to New Lynn
As part of the SH20 Mt Roskill extension, NZTA widened Maioro Street from two to four lanes, completed mid-2009.[Transit: Mt Roskill extension Project Details](_blank)
/ref> The Auckland City Council
Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...
was responsible for widening the remaining route to New Lynn, i.e. New Windsor Road, Tiverton Road and Wolverton Road.[Auckland City Council, Tiverton Road/Wolverton Street upgrade](_blank)
/ref> While it completed some widening of Tiverton Road in 2007, Council deferred completing any more widening until 2015–2020. In late 2011, Auckland Transport
Auckland Transport (AT) is the council-controlled organisation (CCO) of Auckland Council responsible for transport projects and services. It was established by section 38 of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009, and operates under ...
called for expressions of interest from contractors to complete the works. Construction was expected to start in the first half of 2012 subject to tender and NZTA funding, and take up to two years to complete.[Auckland Transport, Tiverton Wolverton upgrade](_blank)
/ref>
On 17 April 2012 Auckland Transport announced that NZTA would fund 53% of the project.[Auckland Transport, Funding approval given for Tiverton-Wolverton](_blank)
/ref>
See also
* List of motorways, expressways, and highways in Auckland
This is a list of motorways and expressways in New Zealand, including some proposed and under construction. There are currently 406 km of motorways and expressways in New Zealand. 68 km are currently under construction, with a furth ...
References
External links
Waterview Connection
(official NZTA project website)
{{New Zealand motorway list
Transport in Auckland
Motorways in New Zealand
Road tunnels in New Zealand
Transport buildings and structures in the Auckland Region