Impressive new motorway project opens at last

The journey from concept to completion was long and arduous for the Ara Tuhono – Puhoi to Warkworth motorway, but that was put to one side when the $877 million road was officially opened by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on Friday, June 16.

Waka Kotahi/NZ Transport Agency is promising that the new 18.5km motorway will deliver improved safety, reliability and resilience for motorists, tourism and freight. It is also expected to cut five to seven minutes off a trip from Warkworth to Auckland.

Although it was finished years behind schedule and more than $170 million over budget, mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is no arguing that it is an impressive stretch of road.

Discussion about the motorway extension from Puhoi to Wellsford started back in 2010.

At the time, Auckland Councillor Mike Lee coined the phrase “the holiday highway” much to the annoyance of fellow councillor and former Rodney Mayor Penny Webster. It was thought to be a not-so-subtle dig at the then Prime Minister John Key’s holiday home at Omaha Beach.

The motorway extension was strongly backed by the public, as well as Northland leaders, including the then Far North Mayor Wayne Brown, who said the extension was absolutely essential to the future growth of the north.

The project’s resource consenting process was fast-tracked through a Governmentappointed Board of Inquiry, rather than following the routine Environment Court hearing process.

About 50 properties had to be compulsorily purchased when the route was designated.

The first sod was turned in December 2016 when it was estimated that it would take five years to finish and cost $709.5 million. Both the pandemic and, more recently, weather disruptions caused delays and added significant costs.

The new motorway has some impressive features. Some of the cuts are up to 70 metres deep, and nearly 10 million cubic metres of earth has been moved. This is one of the largest volumes of earth to be moved on a New Zealand roading project to date.

To minimise the impact on the local ecology, several mitigation measures were implemented. These include constructing fauna underpasses and fencing to protect native wildlife, replanting trees, and implementing erosion control measures. More than eight million work hours have been completed on the project to date and at peak construction, more than 800 workers were on site.

The road surface is made of Open Graded Porous Asphalt (OGPA), which NZTA says will reduce road noise and assist with water runoff, increasing resistance and making the road safer for motorists.

Many of the crashes on the existing state highway involve loss of control, driver fatigue and a generally poor roading environment. A divided motorway with a central median barrier, improved road surfacing and better geometry is expected to reduce crashes by 20 to 30 per cent, based on forecast traffic volumes in 2051. Key safety features include:

• a flexible safety barrier along the median

• fully-sealed medians and shoulders

• emergency truck stopping areas

• rockfall mesh barriers

In August last year, the government declined a Waka Kotahi request to toll the road, reflecting strong local opposition. The Puhoi to Warkworth motorway is the first stage of the Ara Tūhono project. The second stage will be the 20km Warkworth to Te Hana leg, which was initially due to start in 2016 at a cost of $670 million. No start for this section has been announced.