Six to eight years of disruption - but Wellington tunnels still need funding
Monday, 6 April 2026
With a decision on funding Wellington’s highway mega-project not expected until sometime this year, Waka Kotahi NZTA says it could build the entire package in six to eight years once the call is made.
That would see the second Terrace and Mount Victoria tunnels, major Basin Reserve changes, extensive road widening and a Hataitai overpass completed as soon as early 2032, and no later than 2034 - based on those timelines.
The claim was nothing short of “highly unrealistic”, said Rongotai MP Julie Anne Genter.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop has consistently stood by his pre-election pledge to have spades in the ground for a second Mount Victoria tunnel this term, which ends later this year.
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In a recent speech to the Automobile Association, he signalled a decision on the $2.9 to $3.8 billion project - and others - would be released “later this year”. His office could not say which month that would be.
However, NZTA will this week start drilling five boreholes at The Terrace - away from traffic - as part of investigations for the planned second Terrace tunnel.
Bishop last week said geotechnical work and property acquisition had already begun.
The Post records show Crown property acquisitions for the second Mount Victoria tunnel started in the 1960s.
Bishop said fast-tracked consent was expected mid-year. NZTA tried to mitigate disruption but that was not always possible.
A statement from Waka Kotahi said, without funding yet confirmed, specific time frames for construction could not be discussed.
“We currently estimate that the project will take six to eight years to construct,” the statement said. NZTA said the timeframe applied whether the work was done concurrently or sequentially.
Infrastructure NZ chief executive Nick Leggett said there would be “significant long-term disruption” to Wellington during construction but that needed to be weighed against the significant long-term benefits to the region and lower North Island.
The biggest hurdle was the “affordability challenge” for the Government just as the taxpaying public was facing their own cost challenge with the fuel crisis.
Funding the project through a fuel excise would falter as people moved to electric cars, meaning the Government would need to look at public-private partnerships, or onshore and offshore investment.
But each of these would need to be paid for somehow, and the road would have to be tolled or funded through electronic road user charging across all roads and vehicles.
Genter said, with funding still not confirmed, a high price tag, a “terrible” cost-benefit ratio and a lack of public support, the project was “almost impossible to justify”.
“It also feels like NZTA is downplaying the level of disruption it would bring if somehow the tunnels did manage to get funded,” Genter said.
Wellington mayor Andrew Little said a project of such magnitude, traversing major traffic routes, would inevitably involve a lot of disruption.
“The council has minimal ability to influence the construction timeline of NZTA. However, we will do all we possibly can to see the project delivered as promptly as possible to minimise the negative impacts on residents and businesses during construction.”
Wellington Airport chief executive Matt Clarke, a proponent of the project, said all major construction projects came with disruption.
“Ignoring the need to develop the network would be far more disruptive in the long run. A period of disrupted traffic flows is better than looking down the barrel at a lifetime of increasing congestion,” he said.