Work underway on key New Zealand tunnel

Preliminary works are now underway on a crucial link in the new road connections for New Zealand city Auckland. A 30m deep trench is being excavated that will form the start point for the tunnel boring machine (TBM) drive. The 2.4km long, twin tube tunnels will cost some US$1.13 billion (NZ$1.4 billion) to construct and will be driven using the TBM. The project team plans to commence the TBM drive in 2013.
August 6, 2012 Read time: 1 min

Preliminary works are now underway on a crucial link in the new road connections for New Zealand city Auckland. A 30m deep trench is being excavated that will form the start point for the tunnel boring machine (TBM) drive. The 2.4km long, twin tube tunnels will cost some US$1.13 billion (NZ$1.4 billion) to construct and will be driven using the TBM. The project team plans to commence the TBM drive in 2013.

Road Structures

Related Content

  • Work commencing on key New Zealand tunnel link
    August 3, 2012
    New Zealand prime minister John Key led an official ground-breaking ceremony this week to allow the start of excavation work for two new 2.4km-long motorway tunnels beneath suburban Auckland. The Waterview Connection project is on schedule to begin its main construction phase next year, and the prime minister was on hand to turn the first soil for a 30m-deep trench which is needed to allow access for the tunnels’ southern approach trench in the west Auckland suburb of Owairaka.
    Read More
  • Tunnel breakthrough for new Auckland link in New Zealand
    October 8, 2014
    Auckland’s Western Ring Route project update - Mary Bell writes. A number of integrated projects in Auckland, New Zealand, will improve the lot of road users and cyclists, and significantly alter the topography of the city’s motorway. On September 29th the tunnel boring machine digging the first of twin road tunnels beneath the city broke into daylight after 10 months underground. The new 2.4km-long Waterview tunnels will connect the city’s Northwestern and Southwestern motorways, each carrying three lane
    Read More
  • Herrenknecht’s Alice heads back underground at Waterview
    December 19, 2014
    Alice, one of world's largest tunnel boring machines, has started its second tunnel drive for the Waterview Connection project in Auckland, New Zealand. The 90m-long, 3100tonne tunnel borer completed the first twin tunnel, at 2.4km, in September after 11 months of digging, as World Highways reported at the time. The machine has a boring diameter of 14.46m and its cutting wheel is driven by 24 electric motors with a total output of 8,400kW.
    Read More
  • Building New zealand's landmark tunnel
    February 15, 2012
    A landmark tunnelling project is commencing in New Zealand - Kristina Smith reports. New Zealand is preparing to embark on its biggest transport project ever. In August it announced that it had selected its preferred bidder for the NZ$1.4 billion Waterview Connection in Auckland, 5km of new motorway connecting highways to the North and South of the city.
    Read More

Highlighted Content