Waterview Tunnel opened

The $1.4 billion Waterview Tunnel formally opened over the weekend, with prime minister Bill English and transport minister Simon Bridges cutting the ribbon at a completion ceremony on Sunday morning. “The Waterview Tunnel is one of the most important infrastructure developments to take place in New Zealand and will help unlock Auckland’s potential as a world class city and secure its future economic prosperity,” Bridges said at the event. “It will provide more options to Aucklanders travelling around the city, more efficient links to and from Auckland Airport, Ports of Auckland and inland freight hubs, reducing costs for people and businesses, not only in Auckland, but throughout the country.” The Waterview Connection includes two 2.4km-long tunnels and a giant motorway interchange at Great North Road to connect the Southwest and Northwestern motorways. It's set to fully open to traffic in early July. However, Bridges admitted to Lisa Owen the morning before on Three's The Nation that the Waterview Tunnel “won’t be the silver bullet” to Auckland’s congestion woes. With Auckland’s vehicle fleet growing by 800 cars every week, traffic has been worsening on the gridlocked motorway system, particularly in peak times. A recent survey found the average commuter spent an extra 172 hours a year in congested traffic, which has doubled since 2014. The issue of Auckland’s massive infrastructure bill has caused friction between the Auckland Council and the government, and mayor Phil Goff said recently the council is $7 billion short of funds in its 10-year plan for infrastructure, and the council needed more sources of revenue immediately. When questioned on other methods of allocating funds by Owen, Bridges he was “talking to the council about the projects and things we can do to look at that so-called funding gap,” but declined to give further details. Bridges added the council has “a range of options,” and it was “a question of having a sensible balance between ratepayers and taxpayers, between Auckland and the rest of New Zealand with our transport investment.”