Auckland's new Victoria Park motorway tunnel will be chock full of traffic at the weekend, but strictly of the pedestrian variety, before it opens to vehicles nine days later.
The Transport Agency is giving the public a walk-through preview of the 450m tunnel after Prime Minister John Key cuts a ribbon on Saturday to declare it officially open.
Two of the tunnel's three northbound traffic lanes will open to vehicles on Monday, November 7.
The agency said yesterday that this weekend's event was already booked out, with 17,000 people registered for the walk, which will be phased through the morning from 9.30am. Transport Agency highways manager Tommy Parker said that was the maximum number of people that could be safely managed inside the one-way tunnel.
Also fully booked at $350 a head is a 1000-seat gala dinner and concert to be held inside the tunnel tonight, to raise funds for the Ronald McDonald House Auckland Trust, which provides accommodation for families of patients at the Starship Children's Hospital.