Skip to main content

Video: Auckland’s Penlink Highway inches closer to becoming a reality

The final hurdle regarding land settlement has been cleared for Auckland’s ambitious US$274 million Penlink Highway. The 7km route will improve access to the Whangaparaoa Peninsula but it could be up to 20 years before construction starts, according to a report in the New Zealand Herald newspaper. The local authority-controlled Auckland Transport hasn't decided if it will pay for the proposed four-lane toll road that would include a 540m bridge over the Weiti River. An Auckland Transport spokesman said
August 9, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The final hurdle regarding land settlement has been cleared for Auckland’s ambitious US$274 million Penlink Highway.

The 7km route will improve access to the Whangaparaoa Peninsula but it could be up to 20 years before construction starts, according to a report in the New Zealand Herald newspaper.

The local authority-controlled Auckland Transport hasn't decided if it will pay for the proposed four-lane toll road that would include a 540m bridge over the Weiti River. An Auckland Transport spokesman said they did not have construction funding but were "regularly reviewing the priority" for Penlink.

The newspaper reported that the promoters estimate Penlink could attract 16,600 vehicles per day and use a toll system similar to the Northern Gateway - the first toll road in New Zealand to be fully electronic. Northern Gateway extends the Northern Motorway (SH1) 7.5km further north from Orewa to Puhoi.

Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett recently wrote an opinion article for in the Herald, saying that Penlink's cost would be "modest" compared with the recent larger projects. Its benefit-cost ratio of 2.9 also gave it a rating higher than several of NZTA's Roads of National Significance, he reportedly said.

Related Content

  • Pūhoi-to-Warkworth opening in 2022
    August 5, 2020
    The 18.5km route near Auckland, New Zealand, was to open by the end of 2021.
  • Indonesia working on financing of Tebing Tinggi-Kisaran toll road
    August 16, 2016
    Indonesia is looking to finalise the financing of the Tebing Tinggi-Kisaran toll road that is likely to cost around US$661 million. The 60km road is part of the trans-Sumatra highway project, which is targeted for completion in 2019, according to a report in the Jakarta Post newspaper. The route – one of 30 priority infrastructure projects - will connect Kuala Namu International Airport and Kuala Tanjung Port with the nearby Sei Mangkei industrial complex. “Of the eight priority routes on the trans-Sumat
  • State-of-the art road tunnels in construction and use of ITS
    April 25, 2013
    A wealth of major road tunnel construction projects and significant cant ITS installations within existing key road tunnels have been recently completed or will soon be underway. Guy Woodford examines some of them. A state-of-the art Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) - the 10th largest ever to be built worldwide will be put to work later this year on New Zealand Transport Agency’s landmark Waterview Connection project in Auckland. The giant Herrenknecht-manufactured machine will be used to construct the twin 2.5
  • 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.