Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway finally opens

The long-awaited Ara

Tūhono Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway north of Auckland has finally opened, after an 18-month delay. The $880-million road, built as a partnership between Waka Kotahi and the Northern Express Group, took seven years to complete.

This new 18.5km section of the Northern Motorway has two lanes going each way and a median barrier. More than 35,000 vehicles are expected to travel the stretch of road every day, including 1300 trucks.

“Safe and reliable transport links between Auckland and

Northland are essential for commuters and business alike, and this motorway goes a long way to securing that,” Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said.

“The recent extreme weather events have highlighted how fragile the Auckland to Northland transport corridor can be, so this is a major step forward in ensuring a reliable connecting to the North.

“It will provide consistent and reliable travel and better access to markets in Northland and to export ports at Auckland and Tauranga. That’s important for businesses to be able to plan their logistics,” he said.

Associate Transport Minister Kiri Allan said the construction of the road was a mammoth undertaking.

“More than eight million work hours have been completed so far by 7000 workers, and cuttings as deep as 70 metres made, with over 10 million cubic metres of earth moved. That’s one of the largest amounts of dirt ever shifted during a New Zealand roading project,” Allan said.

Te Honohono ki Tai Road – the Matakana Link Road, linking SH1 and Matakana Road, was also opened.

Keep On Moving Podcast Snags Impressive Spot On Global Rankings

NZ Trucking Media’s Keep on Moving podcast is enjoying the limelight, cracking the top 50 in the 100 Best Trucking Podcasts rankings by Feedspot.com.

Currently sitting at number 47, Keep on Moving managed to hit the 28th spot out of 2000 podcasts from around the world.

“What’s fantastic about this ranking is we’re only warming up on the podcast,” said Dave McCoid, editorial director at NZ Trucking Media.

“We’re so lucky to have Murray Lindsay, a career broadcaster able to guide the ship and literally make microphones fun. We’ve got so many more plans for Keep on Moving, but it’s fantastic all indicators point to our recipe being right.”

The rankings feature the best trucking podcasts from thousands of shows on the web and are ranked by traffic, social media followers and freshness.

An expansive exhibitor hall will feature the latest trucking technologies. Attendees can learn from industry experts through job-specific workshops and presentations.

The programme details will be published soon. In the meantime, the organisers are inviting expressions of interest for exhibitor space and sponsorship. To express your interest, email bill.james@trucking.nz

Broadcaster Murray Lindsay said: “I love working with Dave and the boys… Passionate truckies talking all things from big rigs to the smaller compact beasts.

“I’m delighted we have been rewarded with such a great ranking among our peers in the trucking podcast community.”