Work starts on $255m port road

A model of the Harbour Link project. Picture / Transit

Work begins this week on the Bay of Plenty's biggest roading project - the $255 million, four-lane Harbour Link expressway between Tauranga and Mt Maunganui.

A duplicate harbour bridge is part of the 4.9km expressway, which Transit promises will ease congestion and free up access to the Port of Tauranga.

The first stage of the project will be officially launched at a ceremony on Wednesday that Transport Minister Annette King is expected to attend.

Tauranga City Council had initially planned to meet half the cost using tolls, but former Tauranga MP Winston Peters secured a Crown grant and toll-free deal in return for New Zealand First's support for the Labour-led Government.

Funding is now split between the Crown grant and the Land Transport New Zealand's National Land Transport Fund. The estimated cost has risen from $240 million to $255 million since the deal was brokered.

Transit project manager Kevin Reid said the four lanes would provide fast, efficient access to the Port of Tauranga and Mt Maunganui from Auckland, Coromandel and Hamilton.

"Harbour Link is a critical part of the long-term vision of a series of interrelated projects forming an efficient transport system for the Western Bay of Plenty region," he said.

Recently completed projects include a $5.1 million roundabout on State Highway 2 at Papamoa and a $27.6 million flyover on Hewletts Rd, Mt Maunganui.

The first stage of the Harbour Link will involve making four lanes of Hewletts Rd between the flyover and an old toll plaza on the Mount side of the existing harbour bridge.

Some land will be reclaimed near the toll plaza and bus lanes and cycleways installed. Improvements for pedestrians are also promised.

The first stage is expected to take a year before work can begin on the second, main stage - the duplicate harbour bridge and a flyover from the bridge to four-lane Takitimu Drive, which links Tauranga with State Highway 2 north to Auckland.

The scheduled completion date for the second stage is late 2010.

The existing harbour bridge opened in 1988 and the number of vehicles using it rose dramatically after tolls were removed in 2001.

While Aucklanders may shrug at the thought of traffic woes in Tauranga, the city (which includes Mt Maunganui) is the country's sixth largest and in one of the fastest growing regions.

About 36,000 vehicles a day use the harbour bridge - 7000 more than its designed capacity, leading to long queues at both ends, particularly during morning and evening rush-hours and weekends.