Key, Greens at odds over Victoria Park tunnel

Source: NZ Transport agency. Photo / Herald graphic

Building motorways such as the Victoria Park tunnel will help to reduce emissions, Prime Minister John Key said today.

Mr Key today announced the winning tender for the $430 million project, which he said would create jobs, lift productivity and reduce emissions.

Mr Key said the project would, as well as creating jobs and improving productivity, "over time see a reduction in emissions as we have much greater efficiency as we travel around Auckland".

But the Green Party said the only way to decrease emissions was to invest in public transport.

"It's not true to say building motorways reduces greenhouse gases and emissions," Jeanette Fitzsimons said.

"That's the claim that's always made to justify building motorways."

Reducing congestion would decrease the emissions from each individual vehicle, but the completed motorway would generate increased traffic - putting more cars on the roads.

"Cities with free flowing traffic have the highest overall emissions as they have higher car use," Ms Fitzsimons said.

The winning tender for the Victoria Park tunnel was won by the consortium 'V Formation, made up of Fletcher Construction, Beca Engineering, Higgins Contractors and Australian consultancy Parsons and Brinckerhoff.

The deal is a partnership between NZTA and the private sector and construction begins in November, beginning with the widening of the existing motorway.

Mr Key and Transport Minister Steven Joyce announced the winning tender this morning at the Birdcage Tavern, a historic watering hole that will be moved to make way for the diggers.

Building of the "cut and cover" tunnel will start no later than March 2010 and Fletcher Construction said the whole plan could be completed in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

That follows an earlier acceleration of the start date by 10 months to January, under a Government decision to boost state highway construction spending by almost $1 billion over three years and to nominate the tunnel as one of seven roads of national significance.

Mr Joyce said it was a "tremendous milestone".

The minister said the contract would begin with an on-site workforce of about 120, before rising to 300 at the peak of the four-year project, as well as providing other jobs in the construction supply chain.

Although acknowledging its relatively modest contribution to job creation in a region where unemployment has leapt from fewer than 5000 to almost 20,000 people in 12 months, he said such infrastructure projects were needed to improve productivity and to contribute to an early recovery from the recession.

The traffic chokepoint on the existing Victoria Park viaduct rather than the harbour bridge was the main limiting factor on Auckland's central motorway network, so easing congestion for the more than 100,000 vehicles using it each day was important in improving the region's productivity.

"One of the important things to do for that is to ease the transport bottlenecks and get people and freight moving around more effectively," Mr Joyce said. "Jobs like this are not the whole answer, but they do help and are all part of getting Auckland more confident and feeling positive about growing again."

As well as effectively doubling the capacity of the road corridor through Victoria Park, by allowing all four viaduct lanes to be used by southbound traffic heading from the bridge to Auckland and beyond, the project will include the addition of one more lane in each direction to the motorway along St Mary's Bay.

The plan also provides for a bus priority lane.

Mr Joyce noted that the Transport Agency was already overseeing four other big Auckland motorway projects, including the $215 million Newmarket Viaduct replacement and various links along the western ring route.

- with NZ HERALD STAFF