Victoria Park Tunnel opens to some traffic

Transport Minister Steven Joyce says the opening of the Victoria Park Tunnel to two lanes of traffic today is a major milestone in the resolution of the last remaining major bottleneck in central Auckland’s motorway junction.

The third lane of the tunnel will open to northbound traffic in March next year. The Victoria Park flyover will open in a new southbound-only layout in early January 2012.

Mr Joyce says Victoria Park was advanced as a Road of National Significance in recognition of the contribution it could make to economic growth.

When the project is finished, the new tunnel on State Highway 1 will reduce congestion, giving Aucklanders faster and more reliable journey times on one of the country’s busiest freight and business routes.

“The Victoria Park Tunnel project - the new tunnel for northbound traffic plus the four southbound lanes on the existing viaduct - will greatly ease congestion for the 150,000 plus vehicles that use this route each day through central Auckland and will eventually reduce journey times by to 20 minutes,” says Mr Joyce.

“This is part of the government’s plan to build better infrastructure that will increase the country’s productivity and boost economic growth.

“As the government’s road and rail construction programme progresses, further benefits will be felt, not just for commuters who have long suffered the effects of being stuck in traffic but for our businesses and exporters which need to get their goods to market as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“Auckland has already benefited from the accelerated completion of the Manukau Extension, the Manukau Harbour Crossing on State Highway 20, the Hobsonville Deviation and the addition of the southbound lane between Newmarket and Greenlane on State Highway 1.”

Mr Joyce says the government's billion dollar boost to state highway funding over three years has provided a secure funding pipeline which has given contractors the confidence to continue investing in people and machinery and complete projects more quickly.