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The New Zealand Transport Agency is confident that travelers in and out of the capital are now less than a year away from traveling on the Transmission Gully Highway, after several deadlines.
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Decades in planning and hardest hit by an earthquake, Covid and wet weather, the new highway is less than a year away from opening. Source: NZTA
After multiple challenges to completion of the 27 km highway caused by the Kaikoura earthquake, bad weather, difficult terrain and the Covid-19 pandemic, the executive director of the contractor Wellington Gateway Partnership, Sergio Mejía, said that he is sure that the project will be completed in September 2021.
“I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I can’t wait for September 2021,” he said.
Meija said he is proud of the commitment of the thousands of crew members who have worked on the project since it was established in 2014, with a workforce now reduced to 570.
But weather events or seismic activity could still push the opening back even further.
“As long as the weather takes care of us, with our fingers crossed we hope we are doing well,” said Waka Kotahi’s senior project delivery manager Andy Thackwray.
As the delays have mounted, the budget has soared from $ 850 million to $ 1.25 billion, and a broad government review of the country’s first public-private highway partnership is underway.
The complex landscape includes numerous streams that have been diverted and drained through steep slopes dug into the earth of up to 70 meters.
The project has involved 10.5 million cubic meters of earth moved, has used 780,000 tons of rock for the road, has distributed three million plantations and contractors have worked more than nine million hours in total so far.
When open, the highway will save commuters around 11 minutes of driving time, compared to the existing coastal route.
“That’s what this road will provide … a much safer and more reliable rugged ride,” said Andy Thackwray of Waka Kotahi.
“It gives you an alternative road to the original coast road and you will have split traffic between the two … you will definitely see less congestion as well,” he said.
