New photos show progress of Transmission Gully one year out from opening

Wednesday, 11 December 2019

NZTA rejects a toll for $850m road, saying it could discourage drivers.

One year out from its planned opening, new photographs show just how much work has been done - and remains to be done - on Transmission Gully.

Construction began on the 27 kilometre-long expressway in April 2015 which, once completed, will connect Linden in north Wellington to Paekākāriki on the Kāpiti Coast.

Initially tipped to open in April 2020, the project was revealed last month to be 'considerably behind' schedule, with the NZ Transport Agency now expecting a November 2020 opening date.

The agency blamed weather, seismic events, including the need for resources to be diverted following the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.

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Recreational pilot Leo Cooney hired the Manawatu Aviation Club's Sky Arrow to fly over the works.

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Construction began on the 27 kilometre-long expressway in April 2015

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Works near Paekākāriki on the Kāpiti Coast.

The Cannons Creek bridge is 226 metres long.

Photos of the progress on Transmission Gully taken by Leo Cooney in December 2019.

* No toll for Transmission Gully**

Recreational pilot Leo Cooney hired the Manawatu Aviation Club's Sky Arrow to fly over the works, almost a year to the day he last photographed them.

The photographs show the huge viaduct bridge which spans Cannons Creek, and at 226 metres long and 60m high is the project's largest bridge.

The four-lane bridge includes a total of 44 steel girders, each 1.8m wide and 3m deep, to make up the framework of the bridge deck, supported by two abutments and two piers.

The agency announced in August the new expressway would not be tolled.