Waterview delay ‘ kick in guts’ for Aucklanders

The delay of New Zealand’s biggest road project is a “kick in the guts” for Aucklanders crying out for good news, the Automobile Association says.

The Waterview Connection motorway project has been delayed by up to three months over faulty sprinklers.

AA spokesman Barney Irvine said the delay was out of character for the NZ Transport Agency, whose track record on delivering big projects ahead of time and under budget was generally “really good”.

The $ 1.4 billion project was set to have been opened in April.

The 2.4km tunnel and ring road will connect Auckland’s Northwestern and Southwestern motorways.

Irvine said the motorway would make key routes, like CBD- to- airport, much better and make the network more resilient.

The NZTA’s Auckland highway manager, Brett Gliddon, said setting up the tunnel’s systems was taking longer than expected, and there had been issues with its fire sprinklers.

“We have a deluge system, and it’s got valves in it that let the water out, and we found some of those were sticking . . . so we just had to change a part within them, and once you do that you’ve got to go back and check the system and make sure it’s all right,” Gliddon said.

“There’s a couple of hundred valves, they weren’t all sticking — there was only an intermittent issue with them — but we weren’t willing to take the risk.”

Gliddon said no agency would be penalised for the delay, and the fix was not likely to be a huge cost.

He said there were also issues with the ventilation system.

“We had a bit of an intermittent fault with the jet fans, where the communication system wasn’t working perfectly, so we had to do a software change.”

Depending on testing and commissioning work, he said, the motorway was now expected to open within two or three months.

Meanwhile, Auckland will get light rail along a Dominion Rd route between the CBD and the airport, it was confirmed yesterday — but not for 30 years.

Transport Minister Simon Bridges announced work would soon begin on protecting the route for a mass transit corridor.

The NZTA and Auckland Transport have decided a busway corridor would be a “credible solution” for the next 30 years.