The agreement with the consortium who will work with Waka Kotahi/NZ Transport Agency on building Penlink (HM June 13) brought the road one step closer, with construction still scheduled to begin towards the end of this year.
The virtual flyover of the route released when the agreement was signed with HEB, Fulton Hogan, Aurecon and Tonkin & Taylor, essentially shows the final design, although there are still details to be ironed out. It includes big changes to Whangaparaoa Rd where it intersects with Penlink (near New World supermarket).
A Waka Kotahi spokesperson says the previously planned T intersection with Beverley Road was changed because “it would have been highly disruptive for the community during construction”.
The newly designed intersection will be built to the west of Whangaparaoa Rd, on Crown-owned land next to Cedar Reserve, before being joined to the bridge.
Waka Kotahi says this will be less disruptive and provides continued use of Whangaparaoa Rd while the new road is built alongside it. It also saves the small residential Beverley Road from being included in a large intersection.
Penlink will now continue further to the south, to flow more directly into the existing Whangaparaoa Rd near New World. This will be the section used by those travelling towards or from the Gulf Harbour-end of the peninsula.
For those joining or exiting Penlink from the Red Beach end of the peninsula, a short new section on Whangaparaoa Rd will be built to the west of the current road alignment, connecting to it at a T-intersection with traffic signals once open.
“Beverley Road will extend further up Whangaparaoa Road to a new intersection. Wiriana Place will tie-in to this extension. Traffic from both Beverley and Wiriana will access Whangaparaoa Rd from this intersection, located north of the Penlink intersection.”
At the Whangaparaoa Rd end of Penlink, there will be walking and cycling facilities, including paths through Cedar Reserve, stormwater ponds and a connection to Archer’s bush.
“The improved design prioritises safety with controlled crossing points, removes the need to raise the level of Whangaparāoa Road to manage flood risk, and avoids significant disruption to traffic flow on Whangaparāoa Road,” the spokesperson says.
Hibiscus Matters also asked Waka Kotahi whether the new bridge design, which reduced the number of piers in the river from three to two, lowered the entrance to the crossing and uses cables, can be widened to four lanes in future. The rest of the road is future-proofed for four lanes. Once a response to this query is received, we will make it public.
Government is yet to make a decision on tolling, but more detailed information and analysis of the 3337 public submissions on tolling were to be made available on Waka Kotahi’s website this month as part of the consultation summary report. That report is yet to appear.
The virtual flyover is at www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/penlink/visual-updates/
