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Paperwork may be the only thing holding up the opening of the new motorway between Puhoi and Warkworth.
NX2 key relationships manager Jonathan Green told a Warkworth Liaison Group meeting this month that construction works, including all the road sealing, were expected to be finished by the end of this month.
“This leaves largely only paperwork such as work completion tests, safety reports and so on, to be signed off before the contract conditions are met,” Green said.
The joint venture building the motorway had applied to Waka Kotahi to get the new motorway opened before Christmas.
“We used the Transmission Gully early opening as a precedent,” Green said.
“However, this proposal was rejected with the issues Transmission Gully encountered post-opening probably being an influence.”
NX2 subsequently lodged a second request for an early opening prior to all the compliance and contractual issues being signed off. Waka Kotahi had not responded at the time of the meeting.
NX2 hopes the motorway opening won’t be delayed while the last of the paperwork is done.
Meanwhile, Green said the recent flooding had not had any direct impact on the motorway’s stability, but there were several slips close to the road corridor that needed attention.
The trees from the old pa site, just north of the Johnstones Hill tunnels, had also been removed.
Consent conditions required that the trees were removed with no soil disturbance as the area is of historical significance.
This meant that the trees were felled and hoisted out using the country’s largest mobile crane.
The old pa site will now be restored, but won’t be open to the public.
Green was asked about remediation work of local roads now that the motorway project was effectively finished. He said Carran Road was Auckland Transport’s asset and any remediation would be its responsibility.
