Auckland Northern Motorway

New Zealand motorway
motorway= Northern Motorway
image-file=Northern Motorway2.jpg
image-size= 250px
image-caption= Auckland's Northern Motorway looking over Auckland City
state-highway= State Highway 1A
State Highway 1
length-km= 32
length-mi= 20
direction= North - South
start= Orewa
Grand Drive
destinations= Orewa, Silverdale, Albany, Takapuna, Auckland City,
end= Auckland City
Auckland Southern Motorway
opening-date= 1959
completion-date= 2009
junctions= Exit 398
State Highway 1
State Highway 17
Exit 412
State Highway 17
Exit 414
State Highway 18

The Northern Motorway, part of SH 1 for most of its length, is the major northern route out of Auckland in New Zealand.

32 km in length with 14 junctions (including its termini), it runs from Orewa, north of Auckland, through rural areas until Albany, through the suburbs of North Shore, over the Auckland Harbour Bridge to the Central Motorway Junction in downtown Auckland.

It is currently being extended (with an automated toll road) to join SH1 near Puhoi, bypassing several urban coastal areas and decreasing travel times. This project is known as ALPURT B2. The extension is proposed to be completed by 2009. The motorway will remain untolled as far as Orewa.

History

The first section of the motorway to open was from the Auckland Harbour Bridge toll plaza, close to the present-day Stafford Street interchange, across the Harbour Bridge to Fanshawe Street, a distance of 3.9 km, on 30 May 1959. However, as it was controlled by the Auckland Harbour Bridge Authority, not the National Roads Board (the predecessor to Transit New Zealand), it was not considered part of the Northern Motorway.

The National Roads Board opened their first section at the same time, from the toll plaza north to Northcote Road, a distance of 3.5 km.

In August 1962, the Victoria Park Viaduct opened, and the Northern Motorway extended south from Fanshawne Street to Cook Street, a distance of 800 m.

In December 1969, the section from Northcote Road to Tristram Avenue opened, a distance of 2 km.

By the end of the 1960s the Northern Motorway, including the Harbour Bridge, totalled 10.1 km. [http://www.petroltax.org.nz/PDF/AucklandMotorways.PDF]

Over the next 30 years, the motorway was extended south to the Central Motorway Junction and north from Tristram Ave to Greville Road.

In 1984, with the Auckland Harbour Bridge paid off the tolls were removed, and it became part of the Northern Motorway.

ALPURT

In 1999, the first stage of the Albany to Puhoi Realighnmet (ALPURT) was completed, and the motorway was extended north from Greville Road though Silverdale, to the current terminus west of Orewa.

Future

Several major projects are planned for the Northern Motorway within the next ten years. From south to north they are:-

*Victoria Park Tunnel - Victoria Park is currently crossed by a narrow four-lane viaduct, which creates a bottleneck for traffic traveling between the Harbour Bridge and the Central Motorway Junction. It is proposed to build a 440 m long three-lane tunnel to the west of the existing viaduct to carry northbound traffic, while southbound traffic will use the existing viaduct. Planned to start in 2009, it should be completed in 2014, and is estimated to cost over NZ$100 million.

*Auckland Harbour Bridge Clip-on Strengthening - The Harbour Bridge's clip-on lanes were added in 1969 to double the bridge's capacity. The clip-ons are getting close to the end of their useful lives, and are showing signs of fatigue. With the Second Harbour Crossing at least ten years off, work is underway to strengthen the clip-ons to extend their life by 20-30 years. Work is estimated to be completed by February 2011, and will cost NZ$45 million.

*Northern Busway Stage 2 - The second stage of the recently-opened Northern Busway involves extending the busway south of the Onewa Road interchange to the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The extension is estimated to be completed by February 2009.

*Second Harbour Crossing - The Auckland Harbour Bridge is showing its age, is over capacity, and there is no connection for public transport, cyclists, or pedestrians over the Waitemata Harbour. A second crossing of the Waitemata Harbour, between the Onewa Road interchange and the Central Motorway Junction is currently been investigated. If the second crossing proceeds to construction stage, it is estimated it will cost NZ$3 billion.

*Northcote to Sunnynook Auxiliary Lane - An extra lane will be constructed northbound from the Northcote Road northbound on-ramp to the Sunnynook underpass. This will reduce congestion, and provide safer merging opportunities for traffic entering the motorway from Northcote Road. The project is estimated to cost between NZ$5 million and $20 million, and should be completed by October 2009.

*Albany to Puhoi Realignment Stage B2 (ALPURT B2) - ALPURT B2 involves the construction of a 7.5 km four-lane toll motorway from the current terminus of the Northern Motorway at Grand Drive to the town of Puhoi. It will bypass a narrow accident-prone two-lane section of State Highway 1 through Orewa and Waiwera. The motorway will cost around NZ$365 million, and will be completed early 2009.

*Warkworth bypass - a four-lane motorway to bypass Warkworth. The $8million first stage will include widening the 400m section of SH1 between Woodcocks Rd and Whitaker Rd to four lanes, improving the intersections at both ends and adding a combined walking and cycleway for non-motorists travelling between Mahurangi College and Warkworth's town centre. Construction will begin summer 2008/09. That will be the first stage of a $17 million joint venture between the NZ Transport Agency and Rodney District Council to upgrade all five main intersections between the highway and local roads. [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10528158&pnum=0 Cash approved for northern bottlenecks, NZ Herald 21 Aug 08] ]

*Puhoi to Warkworth - a 15km four-lane motorway from Puhoi to Warkworth. The NZ Transport Agency proposes a realignment of the difficult Schedewys Hill section north of Puhoi and upgrading an extension of the Northwestern Motorway to a four-lane expressway to Brigham Creek Rd. The realignment may form the first section of a future motorway. [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10528158&pnum=0 Cash approved for northern bottlenecks, New Zealand Herald 21 August 2008] ]

*Warkworth to Wellsford - a 19km four-lane expressway from Warkworth to Wellsford. The NZ Transport Agency desires to designate a preferred route for long-distance travel needs. [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10528158&pnum=0 Cash approved for northern bottlenecks, New Zealand Herald 21 August 2008] ]

Interchanges

ee also

* List of motorways, expressways, and highways in Auckland

References