Prime Minister cuts ribbon to open Auckland's new $1 billion motorway

Friday, 16 June 2023

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins helps cut the ribbon at the new Puhoi to Warkworth Motorway.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has cut the ribbon cutting of the new Puhoi to Warkworth motorway on Friday morning, with Michael Wood having been stood down as transport minister.

The motorway has been seven years in the making, but weeks prior to its completion Michael Wood was stood down following controversy about his ownership of shares in Auckland Airport.

There was a ribbon cutting ceremony in Warkworth which will “officially” open the motorway, however the public won’t be able to drive on it yet.

Waka Kotahi continues to maintain a line that it has held for months, that it doesn’t yet have an exact opening time or day that the motorway will be open to traffic.

Prime Minister Hipkins will be holding the shears at the ribbon cutting of the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway following Transport Minister Michael Wood being stood down.

* Aucklanders stuck with Warkworth's dreaded intersection for longer than expected

* Wellingtonians 'so excited' to try out Transmission Gully

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at the opening for the new Puhoi to Warkworth Motorway.

However, it is expected that traffic from State Highway 1, just north of the Johnstones Hill tunnels will join up with the new road within a few days.

The 18.5km motorway is expected to shave 11 minutes off commuters’ journeys between Warkworth and Auckland.

It will provide bach-goers a more convenient route to Omaha by connecting with the new Matakana Link Road. It’ll also cut out the dreaded Hill Street intersection in Warkworth.

Back in 2011, then-Labour leader Phil Goff labelled the motorway “the holiday highway”, calling to scrap the project.

The moniker has stuck, causing angst to residents of Northland who will rely on the highway as a connection to the rest of the country.

Construction began on the motorway in 2016, with an estimated opening date of 2022, but delays caused by the pandemic and resulting negotiations with contractors pushed completion to 2023.

The cost of the motorway has increased from $780 million to $1.05 billion. Transport Minister Michael Wood has previously announced it will not be tolled.

The construction of the motorway has sparked increased development in the Warkworth area in recent years

Auckland developer Templeton Group has poured $350 million into a new suburb located directly at the end of the motorway which will also be accessed via the Matakana Link Road.

Other projects in the works in Warkworth include the Stubbs Farm development with more than 1000 homes, Warkworth South with around 1200 houses and Kaha Ake with around 650 houses.