WELLINGTON OFFICE
Level 5, The Majestic Centre
100 Willis Street
PO Box 5084
Wellington 6140
8 August 2018
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5200
F 64 4 894 3305
Andrew Bayly
www.nzta.govt.nz
MP for Hunua
[email address]
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Dear Mr Bayly,
The $268 million Southern Corridor Improvements project on Auckland’s Southern Motorway (SH1) has
been under construction since 2015. As you will be aware, the project involves construction of extra
lanes on SH1 in both directions between Manukau and Papakura, building a new 4.5km shared walking
and cycling path alongside SH1 between Takanini and Papakura, and upgrading the Takanini
Interchange.
The project team has been communicating with your offices throughout the project and will continue
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to keep you informed about the progress being made and expected completion dates for each stage.
Progress so far:
The Southern Corridor Improvements project is extremely complex and work is taking place within a
highly constrained and narrow motorway corridor, resulting in a staged construction approach to
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ensure the motorway continues to operate during the work.
The additional third southbound lane opened on schedule mid-last year (2017) to provide benefits
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between Hill Road and Takanini, and from Takanini to the Pahurehure Inlet, including the new Takanini
southbound off-ramp. The rest of the project will continue to be opened in stages as it is completed
from early next year, with full project completion by the end of 2019.
Future milestones:
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The Takanini northbound on-ramp will be completed in December this year and work will be carried out
during the holiday period to open the ramp in January (2019) as a ‘lane gain’. The longer on-ramp and
removal of the existing merge onto the motorway aims to reduce queuing on this on-ramp and around
the Takanini Interchange, and improve northbound (citybound) flows on the motorway.
Other parts of the project to be completed next year (2019) include:
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Opening a fourth southbound lane from SH20 to Hill Road;
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Completion of the replacement structure over the northern Pahurehure Inlet;
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Full completion of the Takanini Interchange with additional lanes and the new Takanini
northbound off-ramp;
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Opening an additional northbound lane between the Papakura and Takanini Interchanges;
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Opening an additional southbound lane from the Pahurehure Inlet to Papakura Interchange;
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Completion of the shared walking and cycling path alongside SH1 between Takanini and
Papakura, including opening the Pescara Point pedestrian bridge over SH1.
Project complexities:
Additional scope:
The work programme has extended to late 2019 as a result of changes to the initial project scope. The
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initial proposed design of the Takanini northbound on-ramp had to be updated from a diamond
configuration to a loop. The loop design will take longer to construct as work is taking place within a
more constrained site and additional structures are required.
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In addition to this, the two bridges over the Pahurehure Inlet carrying northbound and southbound
traffic, which were initially planned to be widened, will require additional work. Following more detailed
investigation, it was found that the supporting piers required full replacement to ensure the bridge
remained structurally sound for years to come. Work in this coastal marine location is complex and
needs to be staged in order to keep traffic flowing and to minimise the environmental impact on the
Pahurehure Inlet.
Working out of sight in constrained areas:
While it may not be easy to see the entire workforce from the motorway level, on most days there are
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more than 150 people working on the project on or below the road, within site compounds and
transporting material to and from site. The construction crew are completing work on foundations,
retaining walls, culverts and service relocations in locations such as the Puhinui stream overpass,
railway bridges and under the Takanini Interchange.
The project operates almost 24 hours a day, 6 days a week, with the exception of Friday and Saturday
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nights where there are restrictions on closing the motorway. Night work is undertaken almost every
week from Sunday to Thursday, between 10pm and 5am on either northbound or southbound lanes. In
order to minimise network congestion, restrictions to working areas along the motorway corridor are in
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place from 6am to 10am and 3pm to 7pm.
In addition, our crews change shift twice a day, every morning between 5am and 7am, and again
between 6pm and 9pm. During these times crews are undertaking handovers from the previous shift.
We also need to be cognisant of neighbours, ensuring that we are within noise and vibration levels and
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avoiding unnecessary disturbance at night.
The project team is committed to finishing the work as safely and quickly as possible, regularly
reviewing and challenging resource levels to ensure progress is maintained.
If you would like to discuss this matter further, you are welcome to contact me directly at
[email address]. You may wish to also look at the information available on the project
website:
www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/auckland-southern-corridor
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We look forward to continuing to work with you and your constituents.
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Yours sincerely
Steve Mutton
Director, Regional Relationships, Upper North Island
NZ Transport Agency
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