The massive Transmission Gully project connecting Wellington to the north will begin construction in the second half of next year.
Prime Minister John Key told a Wellington business audience yesterday about the planned commencement.
“The preferred bidder is expected to be announced early next year – at this stage the indication is February – and construction is expected to start in the second half of the year,” Key told the Wellington Employers’ Chamber of Commerce.
“The expectation is that the 27km Transmission Gully section of the Wellington Northern Corridor will be open for traffic by 2020,” Key explained. “This is fantastic and long-awaited news, and I’m sure it’s welcomed by everyone.”
Key says Wellington, as the biggest centre in the lower North Island, is a crucial transport hub, linking the North and South Islands, and linking with regions to the north like Horowhenua, Manawatu and Whanganui.
He says Wellington’s importance as a transport hub is why there is such large-scale government investment in infrastructure occurring.
This investment ranges from the Wellington Northern Corridor, from Levin to Wellington airport, through to big investment in improving commuter rail.
“The recent earthquakes have boosted the already-strong case to upgrade routes into and out of the region so it can better cope with such events,” he says.
The latest estimate of the cost of the Wellington Northern Corridor – of which Transmission Gully is a part – is expected to be about $2.5 billion.
“As well as the strategic advantages of improving the region’s links with the rest of the country, the corridor will vastly improve the daily commute.
“For example, the morning peak travel time from Levin to Wellington is expected over time to improve by an astonishing 40 minutes.
“For people living up the coast, the hospital, the airport, the CBD, and other destinations in Wellington, will be up to 40 minutes closer,” Key says.
In effect it will shrink distances across region – with all the benefits that flow from that,” Key says.
The transport corridor is expected to create thousands of new construction jobs.
The corridor will reduce the projected number of fatal and serious crashes from 140 to 100 in the five years after construction is complete.
Cabinet gave approval for Transmission Gully to be a public-private partnership in November last year, resource consents have been granted, and two consortiums were short-listed in April this year.
