Two-way traffic between the Mangere Bridge Village and Mahunga Drive will resume at the beginning of July with the completion of a new Rimu Road overbridge.
Two-way traffic between the Mangere Bridge Village and Mahunga Drive will resume at the beginning of July with the completion of a new Rimu Road overbridge.
The new bridge spans the widened motorway and has been built as part of the Manukau Harbour Crossing project to replace the previous narrow bridge.
Its completion marks a milestone in the NZ Transport Agency’s Manukau Harbour Crossing project.
Southbound motorway lanes under the bridge will be closed next Sunday night (June 21) and the northbound lanes will be closed next Monday night (June 22) so that scaffolding can be removed. Detours will be Mahunga Drive for southbound traffic and Coronation Road for northbound traffic.
NZTA’s acting regional director for Auckland and Northland, Tommy Parker, says work to replace the Rimu Road overbridge began 12 months ago and required closing the eastward connection between Mangere Bridge Village and Mahunga Drive.
Once the replacement bridge is fully opened, at the end of the month, the road layout will revert to one eastbound and two westbound lanes.
‘The new bridge will also have cycle lanes in both directions, a widened footpath for pedestrians and barriers to improve safety,’ Mr Parker says.
‘Building a new bridge over a motorway that carries more than 80,000 vehicles a day has been a real challenge. We could not have achieved it without the patience and co-operation of local people.’
The Manukau Harbour Crossing project involves building a duplicate motorway bridge over the Manukau Harbour between Onehunga and Mangere and widening the motorway either side of the bridge to three traffic lanes and one shoulder priority lane in each direction. It is due to be completed in early 2011 in time for the Rugby World Cup.
For more information on the SH20 Manukau Harbour Crossing project, phone 0800 7420 649 or visit www.nzta.govt.nz/manukaucrossing(external link).
For more information please contact:
Ewart Barnsley
Auckland Media Manager
NZ Transport Agency
T 64 9 368 2000
