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.MEDIA RELEASEAuckland
21 December 2009
NZ Transport Agency Auckland Regional Office
Fewer affected homes and less disruption for revised Western
Ring Route
Design improvements for the Waterview Connection section of
Aucklands Western Ring Route will require
fewer houses and significantly reduce disruption to residents
and commuters on Great North Road.
The NZ Transport Agency Board has confirmed a final alignment
for SH20 from Mt Roskill to the Northwestern
Motorway that will reduce the number of houses affected to 205
compared to the 365 estimated in May when
the combined surface tunnel option was announced.
Of the 205, 140 are already owned by NZTA. Of the 65 residential
properties still to be acquired 27 are newly
affected, because of the revised alignment and resulting
revisions to the rail designation in the Alan Wood
Reserve area. It is anticipated that only three of these houses
will need to be removed when the corridor is
developed, with the remainder requiring partial land purchase
from the rear of the section.
Board chairman Brian Roche says a concerted effort to develop
project design to minimise community
impacts combined with a better understanding of local geology
had allowed the NZTA to shorten the SH20
route while making the tunnelled section deeper and longer.
This refinement to the combined surface-tunnel route means the
tunnels will be continuous from where they
go underground in Alan Wood Reserve to where they rise to the
surface to meet SH16 at Waterview Park. It
will eliminate the previous gap between the two tunnelled
sections.
Building the tunnels further east without a gap between them can
be completed within the original project
budget and is the most cost effective option for constructing
this section while also responding well to
community concerns with the previous proposal.
Keeping the tunnels deeper means they can be extended further
north which significantly reduces disruption
on Great North Rd. Only a short length of surface construction
will be required to allow the tunnel to cross
underneath. All of this will help to reduce community effects,
he said.
In addition to the reduced surface property effects, the need to
purchase underground land from residentialproperties above the
tunnels reduces slightly from 111 to 105. The changes to the
alignment mean that
about 60 of these properties are newly affected.
Mr Roche said the board had decided against including a central
interchange at New North Road because it
would contravene accepted safety standards for traffic merging,
remove more housing and open space and
increase traffic through Avondale.
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The NZTA is working closely with Auckland City to replace
council land required for the project and upgrade
facilities to allow for increased use. Improved linkages for the
community are also planned through
pedestrian and cycle bridges that will better connect local
reserves.
Mr Roche said that while the Board was pleased that the new
alignment would go a long way to addressing
community concerns, they remained keenly aware of the impact on
affected residents and property owners.
Completing the Western Ring Route is crucial for New Zealands
economic development, but we recognise
that the concerns of affected communities are real, and we are
committed to continuing to work with them as
the project is progressed.
The design development for both SH20 and the SH16 improvements
from St Lukes to Te Atatu will be shared
with the community at a project expo planned for late February
2010.
Construction on the project is likely to start in mid to late
2011 with an anticipated completion date in the
2015/16 financial year.
ENDS
For more information please contact:
Carol GreensmithWestern Ring Route Communications and
Stakeholder
Liaison Manager
T 64 9 368 2000
M 027 213 7628
F 64 9 368 2059
[email protected]
www.nzta.govt.nz
