Project update

13 December 2024

A 110-tonne road header machine is now on site and will start excavating the project's 235-metre tunnel in early 2025.

The final push of 2024

Our teams are gearing up for the final push to Christmas, in the midst of a solid period of work.

On the southern side of Mt Messenger, we’re currently excavating more than 50,000m3 from the 38-metre-tall ‘Cut 14’, which will give us access to the future site of the project’s 125-metre-long bridge.

This work is visible from the road as you approach from the south – but please don’t let it distract you! We ask that people adhere to the temporary speed limit in place, for everyone’s safety as we are entering and exiting our worksites from the highway.

A highlight of recent weeks was being able to make use of a scheduled maintenance closure of State Highway 3 to bring in the ‘road header’. In early 2025, this massive 110-tonne machine will begin to excavate our 235m tunnel. 

The tunnel crew are in the process of setting up a base of operations in ‘Fill 13’, a gully off the road about halfway up Mt Messenger. They’ve been conducting extensive tests over the past few months, to make sure they’ll be using the right methodology for the local ground conditions. The photo below shows the project's tunnelling HQ, in front of the rock face where excavations will begin.

At the summit, the award-winning Mt Messenger Cableway continues to toil away, carrying heavy equipment and material in and out of the deep ravine. ‘Fill 12’ in this area is being built up to carry the future road away from the tunnel towards the Waikato.

Expert ecologists are embedded in everything we do, ensuring the safety of nearby wildlife including kiwi, bats, peripatus and striped skink – three of which were recently relocated to the Rotokare Scenic Reserve in South Taranaki.

Meanwhile, our pest management teams continue to help keep our native fauna safe, slogging up and down the rugged terrain, checking traps and continuing to establish and maintain a 250km track network.

Riparian planting along the Mimi River is now largely complete, with 58,000 plants going into the ground this season on top of last year’s 16,000. When the overall project is complete, more than 300,000 native species will have been planted across riparian areas, swamp forest, wetland and fills.

As we reach the end of 2024, the team is looking forward to 2025 - another big year in the life of this significant project to improve the safety, resilience and reliability of SH3 over Mt Messenger.

Keeping taonga species safe

The Mt Messenger kiwi breeding season is off to a great start!

All our monitored kiwi have completed a first clutch and 4 are already incubating again. The first egg lifts of the season were undertaken in September, when 8 fertile eggs were lifted from 4 nests and safely transported to the Gallagher Burrow at Wairakei.

After hatching, the eggs will be creched within the predator proof fence at Wairakei. They’ll be released back into the pest-controlled area of Parininihi once they reach a 'stoat proof' weight (over 1000 grams – big enough to defend themselves).

Last month, 3 young kiwi were released, after being lifted as eggs last season and reared at the Burrow.

In areas without pest management, just 5% of western brown kiwi survive to breeding age, so the work being carried out by our team is helping to boost the population.

In the wider pest management area, our team is also keeping an eye on several kōkako who are in the middle of their breeding season. Females often stay on the nest even if disturbed, making them extremely vulnerable to predation. Just before the chicks are due to leave the nest, they’ll get coloured bands put on their legs so they can be identified and monitored.

Part of our mission is to tread as lightly as possible on the land and it’s rewarding to partner with mana whenua Ngāti Tama to help keep our precious taonga species safe.

Hebe, one of the many Mt Messenger kiwi chicks currently creched at the Gallagher Kiwi Burrow - a specialist kiwi incubation, hatching, and brooding facility located in Wairakei, near Taupō.

Awards recognise excellence in environmental and construction works

Te Ara o Te Ata recently collected two awards for its groundbreaking environmental and construction efforts.

The project received the Environmental Excellence award from the International Erosion Control Association Australasia, which recognised the Mt Messenger Alliance’s work to protect the surrounding environment and waterways.

The Alliance team also won the Excellence in Onsite/Management Innovation award at the Civil Contractors New Zealand Technology and Innovation Awards, which recognised the concept, construction, and operation of the project’s 1.1-kilometre cableway.

Please visit our project website to hear from Megan Dredge, the project's Erosion and Sediment Control Lead, and Sarah Doyle, one of our project engineers, about the work they're doing in these important areas.

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More information

For more information on Te Ara o Te Ata: Mt Messenger Bypass, please visit our website, email SH3@nzta.govt.nz or call 0800 BYPASS.