Ask Phoebe: Twin tunnels have to open together

The Waterview Tunnel that is part of the NZ Transport Agency's Waterview Connection project. Photo / Dean Purcell

Is there any plan to open the Waterview Tunnel in one direction once one side has been fully bored so we can at least get half of the benefit sooner rather than waiting for both? Andrew Robertson, Auckland.

As much as the NZ Transport Agency would like to be able to deliver some of the benefits of the Waterview Connection project early, it is not possible to open just one tunnel for a number of reasons.

The tunnels cannot be opened until the ramps and connections between the Northwestern and Southwestern motorways, and other improvements along the Northwestern Motorway, are completed.

Once Alice, the tunnel boring machine, has finished her work, the separate tunnels will be fitted out with all the lighting, ventilation, communications and fire protection systems. The testing and commissioning of these systems require both tunnels to be available.

The tunnels will also be connected by 16 cross passages, one every 120 metres. Should there be a fire in one tunnel, the cross passages will provide safe access to the other. Therefore, both tunnels need to be open and operating for this to happen.

Waterview is New Zealand's biggest roading project and the Transport Agency says it plans to have both tunnels open in early 2017.

We are replacing a car with a fresh import. At one particular yard I saw a car I liked. On closer inspection a little sticker on the rear read "Fuki - Toyota".

Some brain cells fired, sparking three idle thoughts as I kicked the tyres one more time. 1 Did it come from the Fukushima area? (Our thoughts are still with you Japan, Kia Kaha) 2 Do cars get tested for radiation when they come in? 3 What is a safe distance from this car? Nick Finestone, Auckland.
The AA website says that radiation is not a concern in imported vehicles. As soon as the tsunami hit and radiation was evident in some parts of Japan, including Fukushima, the local unions there stepped in to ensure no goods or vehicles would enter the wharves in Japan. Testing on vehicles is done before the cars are handled by Japanese watersiders. The testing includes a rigorous cleaning process.

If somebody chooses to import a car themselves, it is possible that they might buy something that does not meet the Japanese export criteria. While there was a small window in time when a very small number of cars were contaminated, the AA says the risk is now minuscule, and a vehicle should be safe from any distance.

After the earthquake and damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in March 2011, New Zealand's National Radiation Laboratory checked hundreds of vehicles arriving at Ports of Auckland from Japan but said no levels of radioactive contamination of any health significance were detected.

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