Low tide at Stillwater marina

Penlink update for September 2020

Keeping you up-to-date with project progress and upcoming activities for Penlink

Since the August Penlink update, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has received more than 100 emails and calls from interested residents and stakeholders.  Thank you for sharing your views and ideas. 

Your comments and suggestions will be considered as part of ongoing work to revise the current Penlink form and scope. Please continue to share your ideas with us.

Following the government’s proposal for a two-lane, tolled Penlink, Waka Kotahi is currently going through a phase of work to confirm the form and scope of Penlink.  This includes an internal tolling assessment and a refresh of the tolling consultation process.  We will keep you updated on progress through e-updates.  You will also find more details on our webpage at www.nzta.govt.nz/penlink.

Waka Kotahi will soon strengthen our project team by appointing a consultant partner.  Together, we will continue the work to ensure that the design and form of Penlink will deliver the best outcomes.

About Penlink

The Government has allocated funding of $411 million to the Penlink project as part of the New Zealand Upgrade Programme.  The construction works will start late 2021 for completion by 2025.

Penlink will better connect communities and provide people with more journey reliability and travel choice on how we move around and connect with family, friends and services.

The project will also help create more employment opportunities in the north of Auckland, take congestion pressure off State Highway 1 and improve local connections while enhancing transport network resilience.

Drone surveys

Over the coming weeks, we will be carrying out drone surveys in the Penlink corridor.  The data and insights gathered will help inform our design process.  Waka Kotahi will share footage with you on our website so that you can better understand the alignment of the Penlink corridor.  The footage will also allow us to share with you some of the geographical challenges we need to overcome as we develop this new transport corridor.

Freshwater monitoring helps us plan Waka Kotahi approach to environmental protection.

Environmental surveys

We have identified approximately 30 monitoring sites for freshwater, coastal marine and ecological surveys.  The monitoring process will enable us to record an environmental baseline before construction begins.  The baseline will allow us to identify and mitigate any changes that may occur when construction begins and help us ensure that we achieve the highest standards of environmental care. 

In early August, Waka Kotahi staff engaged with the owners of the properties identified for surveying and explained the process.  Thank you for your support and collaboration.  Boffa Miskell staff will contact you to discuss the next steps.

Site visit

On Friday 26 June, members of the Northern Iwi Integration Group (iwi representatives with rohe in the north of Auckland) and the Waka Kotahi project team for Penlink joined a site visit to the Penlink alignment. 

The site visit started at Ara Weiti Road where Penlink will connect to SH1.  From here the group travelled to the settlement of Stillwater to see the future location of a new bridge across the Weiti River that will connect SH1 with Whangaparāoa Peninsula.  The visit concluded at the intersection of Beverly Road and Whangaparāoa Road - the starting point for Penlink.

During the next 12 months, experts in planning, freshwater and coastal ecology and landscape design will work together with Waka Kotahi to develop a series of measures and tools to ensure the preservation and protection of our environment in the Penlink area as we move towards construction.

Contact us

For more information, please contact us at penlink@nzta.govt.nz or 0800 PENLINK (0800 7365 465).

You can also visit www.nzta.govt.nz/penlink for general information on Penlink and to subscribe our e-updates.