Motorway link to airport on the way

Contractors are lining up for a spring-time start on the southern extremity of Auckland's western bypass - a $210 million motorway link through Manukau and Wiri.

That will give traffic heading off the Southern Motorway direct routes to the airport or Mangere Bridge without having to wend its way through local streets.

The long-awaited project was to have begun this financial year, but became a casualty in February of a feared $685 million deficit in Transit NZ's 10-year national state highways forecast, above expected Government funding of $12.4 billion.

That left the contracting industry in limbo, with Transit NZ leaving competing quotes for the 5km State Highway 20 link between Auckland's Southern and Southwestern motorways in unopened envelopes while it assessed implications of the shortfall.

But the agency yesterday confirmed that, although it had yet to sign a contract for the project, it had selected Australian construction firm Leighton Contractors as its preferred tenderer.

Leighton has in turn formed a joint venture with Works Infrastructure, a New Zealand division of Australian-based Downer EDI, which expects to be the main supplier of engineering services and materials including more than 150,000 tonnes of asphaltic concrete for the job.

Transit acting regional manager Peter Spies said that, subject to a formal board decision next month to let the contract, work would start this spring on the four-year project.

That has delighted Manukau City Council, which has already begun $17 million of local road connections to the future motorway including a tunnel under the main trunk railway line at Puhinui, to connect Liverpool Ave and Nesdale Ave en route to a big traffic interchange.

The council is also counting on the motorway project to provide enabling earthworks for a 1.8km rail link to an underground station in Manukau's central business district, for a cost of $55 million to $70 million.

Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis is overseas but Manurewa Community Board chairman Daniel Newman said the motorway link was sorely needed to relieve local roads of up to 30,000 vehicles a day.

Mr Newman said Mahia Rd and Roscommon Rd in Manurewa had become a severely congested route for traffic heading off the Southern Motorway to the airport.

"This motorway is absolutely urgent given the huge volumes of cars rumbling through Manurewa," he said.

Roading New Zealand chief executive Chris Olsen also expressed relief that the project finally appeared to be moving ahead, but was disappointed that the main contract was heading overseas.

Works Infrastructure has more than 3000 staff in this country and is building a 6km motorway link at the northern end of the western bypass.