About Pūhoi to Warkworth
The new motorway will provide increased safety, more consistent travel times, create a more robust and reliable road between Auckland and Northland, and provide a better freight connection between Northland and the Upper North Island. This is expected to support economic and population growth.
It will also improve connections between the growth areas in the northern Rodney area of Auckland and reduce congestion at Warkworth by providing a bypass for through traffic.
Time savings are expected to be greater for trucks due to reductions in grades and a better road layout, which helps heavy vehicles maintain a higher average speed along the route.
It’s estimated an average of around 20,000 vehicles a day currently travel on SH1 between Pūhoi and Warkworth. Within the next ten years it is predicted traffic will increase to more than 31,000 vehicles a day, shared between the new motorway and the current SH1.
Several fatal crashes have occurred between Pūhoi and Warkworth in recent years, some of which were head-on collisions. A separated motorway with a central median barrier and improved road design will greatly improve safety.
GREENROADS
The project will meet the high Greenroads standard. Greenroads is an international sustainability certification system that is specific to the design and construction of roading projects.
It requires the achievement of 12 mandatory project requirements. Points are earned for delivering sustainable outcomes such as habitat conservation, work zone health and safety, recycled and recovered content and multi-modal connectivity.
Project teams progressively upload evidence to show they have achieved project requirements and credits during the detailed design and construction phase.
If more than 40 points are achieved the project is certified as a Greenroad.
Certification normally occurs after the project opens. Four levels of certification ratings are available depending on the number of points achieved. NX2 is aiming to achieve a Greenroads Silver Rating for the project, the standard set by the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.
WHAT IS A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP?
A Public Private Partnership (PPP) is a long-term contract between the public and private sectors covering the financing, construction and operation of public infrastructure, such as a major road or services.
PPPs allow large and complex projects to benefit from private sector innovation and funding which can increase certainty of delivery and give better value for money. There are also savings to be had on all aspects of the project – design, build, maintenance and operational management.
Pūhoi to Warkworth will be an ‘availability’ PPP. This means that payments are not linked to traffic volumes. In the past, many overseas PPP highway infrastructure projects passed patronage risk back to the private sector (i.e. revenue from patronage was used to pay for the private finance). However in recent years, many PPPs in Australia and elsewhere have been constructed using the ‘availability’ model that has been chosen by the Transport Agency for the Transmission Gully project and now for this motorway. This means that the PPP consortium will be paid for making a safe road open and available to traffic.
