Name and Location
Waterview Connection project, Aukland, New Zealand.

Client
NZ Transport Agency.

Project Description
The Waterview Connection, in Auckland, is one of the most important infrastructure developments ever to take place in New Zealand.

The project will complete a motorway ring route around the city, combating regional congestion and creating a direct, time-saving link between the international airport and the central business district.

The project involves the design, construction and commissioning of a six-lane, 4.8 km motorway joining Auckland’s Northwestern (State Highway 16) and Southwestern (State Highway 20) motorways. This new infrastructure includes two 2.4 km three-lane tunnels – one for northbound and one for southbound traffic – and the construction of the motorway connections between the tunnels and the existing motorways – State Highway 20 in the south and State Highway 16 in the north.

Value
NZ$1.4-billion.

Duration
The project is scheduled to open in 2017.

Latest Developments
Alice, the name given to the tunnel-boring machine, has constructed more than 1.2 km of the first of the 2.4 km-long tunnels to connect the city’s Southwestern and Northwestern motorways.

The tunnel-boring machine is on schedule to break through at Waterview in late September, where it will be turned around over three months, ready to begin the construction of the second (northbound) tunnel in early 2015. Construction of the two tunnels and 16 cross passages – one every 150 m connecting them – will be completed at the end of 2015.

The tunnels will then be fitted with the services needed to operate them, including ventilation fans, communication systems and fire protection.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Well-Connected Alliance, comprising Aveng Group’s McDonnell Dowell (tunnel construction and tunnel mechanical and electrical fit-out); Fletcher Construction (motorway construction, including bridges and the Great North road interchange); Parsons Brinkerhoff NZ (design and design management, tunnel-operating and safety systems, and tunnel ventilation); Beca Infrastructure (design, including planning, geometrics and hydrogeology); Tonkin & Taylor (geotechnical, ecology, hydrology/stream diversion and environmental design); Obayashi Corporation (tunnel engineering and construction); Sociedad Ibérica de Construcciones Eléctricas (mechanical and electrical design for the tunnel systems and the tunnel operations) and Wilson Tunnelling (lining segments needed for the Waterview tunnels).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Well-Connected Alliance, tel +61 9 621 1730.
Obayashi Corporation, tel +81 35 769 1111.
Fletcher Construction, tel +64 9 525 9000.
McDonnell Dowell, tel +61 3 9816 2400 or fax +61 3 9818 3553.
Beca Infrastructure, tel +64 9 300 9000 or fax +64 9 300 9300.
Parsons Brinkerhoff, tel +61 2 9272 5100 or fax +61 2 9272 5101.
Tonkin & Taylor, tel +64 9 355 6000, fax +64 9 307 0265 or email auck@tonkin.co.nz.
Sociedad Ibérica de Construcciones Eléctricas, tel + 64 95713600.