Skip to main content

Auckland’s Waterview Tunnel to open

Construction work on Auckland’s US 1 billion (NZ$1.4 billion) Waterview Tunnel has been completed and the twin 2.4km-long three-lane tunnels are expected to open to traffic in early July.
June 22, 2017 Read time: 1 min

Construction work on Auckland’s US$1 billion (NZ$1.4 billion) Waterview Tunnel has been completed and the twin 2.4km-long three-lane tunnels are expected to open to traffic in early July. The tunnel is the final link in the Western Ring Route, a new 48km route linking the west of Auckland, Manukau, the city and the North Shore.

New Zealand transport minister Bridges says the Waterview Tunnel completion marks the biggest change in Auckland’s transport system since the opening of the Auckland Harbour Bridge in 1959.

Wider economic benefits are estimated to be worth US$3 million (NZ$430 million), through improved productivity and reduced travel time, and also include the creation of more than 18,000 jobs.

This latest connection in Auckland’s state highway network is expected to provide a more resilient and reliable motorway network by reducing the current dependence on State Highway 1 and the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Related Content

  • Silos are last century’s thinking
    April 21, 2016
    After 45 years in transportation, Ken Philmus sees the need for major change in a sector currently ill-prepared to meet the challenge of funding and rapidly advancing technological change. Having worked in both the public and private sectors, Ken Philmus, currently senior vice president of transportation solutions at Xerox, appreciates both approaches, but times are changing and he believes the sector needs to change too. “I like trains, planes and automobiles but I love the concept of mobility and that’s w
  • TTI, TxDOT to test connected vehicle technology
    January 9, 2015
    Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) has teamed up with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to undertake a four-year project to test connected vehicle technology on a portion of I35 in the state. Funded by a US Department of Transportation (USDOT) grant, the US$2 million project, called I-35 Connected Work Zone, will initially focus on improving freight movement along the construction corridor by providing long-haul trucks a steady stream of traveller information through on-board devices c
  • Flagship French motorway inaugurated
    April 16, 2014
    The inauguration of the French Landes A63 motorway marked the culmination of 27 months of major works carried out adjacent to traffic by the economic interest group GIE A63. The road concessionaire, Atlandes, of which Egis is a shareholder, had awarded the construction contract to GIE A63, which then hired Egis for the turnkey integration of fixed and operational equipment and an 80 per cent share of the engineering, procurement and construction management. Atlandes also awarded Egis the subsequent operati
  • New Zealand looks to World Congress for partners and solutions
    October 12, 2016
    New Zealand’s Minister of Transport, Energy and Safety, Simon Bridges has brought a clear message to ITS World Congress: “We are open for business”. He said the country’s regulatory regime is “as enabling as any in the world” for testing technology including driverless cars and unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).