While State Highway 1 has grown since the 1960s, work on the Western Ring Route has only really started to gather pace over the last 10 years. The Waterview Connection is the final link to complete the ring route, with its form reflecting a contemporary approach to infrastructure delivery. Differing markedly from the originally proposed "Avondale Extension", the Waterview Connection integrates 2.5km of tunnel to mitigate the project's impact on the communities it passes through.
Designation and resource consent for the Waterview Connection project was granted by an Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) Board of Inquiry this year, as part of a wider application for the completion of the Western Ring Route. It was the first time a roading project had used this new national consenting process. A detailed overview of the application is available to read by downloading the pdf documents:
- Application - Part 1 (12.55MB)
- Application - Part 2 (3.64MB)
The Board of Inquiry process was run in parallel with a competitive tender to build the project. While the EPA application was based on a broad overview of what the project would entail, the two tendering consortia have identified opportunities for better integrating the Waterview Connection within the surrounding environment. These potential enhancements will now be explored through the first year of the project, and discussed through Community Liaison Groups to validate whether they should be explored further.
