Work has – ceremonially at least – begun on the long-awaited Transmission Gully route from the North into Wellington.
Prime minister John Key, transport minister Gerry Brownlee and Wellington Regional Council chair Fran Wilde have taken part in a soil turning ceremony with the Wellington Gateway Partnership (WGP) to mark the contract award.
The group broke ground at the far northern tip of the project site, ahead of work that will move 6.5 million cubic metres of earth during five years of construction.
The 27 kilometre motorway is the first state highway to be built as a public/private partnership. The WGP will finance, design and construct the project, and then operate and maintain the Transmission Gully Motorway from 2020 for a period of 25 years.
WGP chief executive David Low says safety and quality, together with respect for the community and environment, will be paramount throughout the life of the project.
WGP has subcontracted design and construction to a joint venture of Leighton Contractors and HEB Construction (LHJV).
“The LHJV integrates local and international experience to successfully address the challenges of constructing 27 kilometres of motorway and 28 bridges through steep terrain,” says Low.
Project director Mick O’Dwyer will lead the LHJV team to construct the new motorway route through 11 different geological terrains from rugged rocky outcrops through to rolling farmland.
“The terrain presents some challenges which will require diverse construction techniques and equipment – from bulldozers to mechanical scrapers, diggers and dump trucks depending on where we are working,” O’Dwyer says.
“Over the coming months we will be completing detailed design,” he explains. “The community will also see us out in the field progressively fencing, relocating services, establishing environmental controls and setting up our site office”.
Weather permitting, major construction work is scheduled to begin during the Spring/Summer of 2015.
