New Northern Motorway/SH1 tunnel behind Orewa

[Carl 3]

I for one am an ardent supporter of getting transmission gully

For anyone on the hutt side it really would save a massive amount of time and I wouldn't have any qualms paying having electronic tolling as the time and petrol saved would offset it automatically

[wobbly47 0]

LOL some of the funniest and smartest posts i have ever read guys......exellent, hey if u felt grumpy melowpuff i know how u felt......i decided to go get my new e39 from auckland on that holiday sunday.....i thought it was awesome that new tunnel when i was heading south......."god what a great nation we are i thought, what a truly magnificent piece of engineering it is" as we sailed through with about 2 other cars heading south....that was quick!

On the way back I thought it cant be that bad even tho the sign says it busy......the road looks clear....few corner later, I sat there for an hour or so watching my temp gauge hoping those 540i cooling probs id read of on here wouldnt hit me....they didnt!!

My earlier warm feeling of our engineering prowess as we reached the tunnel was soon replaced with "what F**king idiot designed this thing bloody 2 lanes into one as you get to the tunnel.....thats smart!!!!

Made me glad I live in the north, and feel sorry for the rest of ya ;-)

cheers Deano

[Guest Spottswoode]

Going to go and rape the tunnel tonight. Junior Spargo on video duty if we find a clear enough night. Alpina 2.7 okay amirite?

[Guest Simon*]

Going to go and rape the tunnel tonight. Junior Spargo on video duty if we find a clear enough night. Alpina 2.7 okay amirite?

It'll have to do Sam

[Forrest 35]

Woohoo 1 hour and 45 minutes this afternoon. I am so thankful I wasnt in an e30. people were almost literally fighting for carparks on the side of the motorway with steam billowing out of their bonnets. It was literally a third lane for overheaters. If the signs say use the old highway USE IT god damn I wish I had. I was trapped and I couldnt escape, I wanted to punch myself in the face and in my nose and eyes and ears and bash my head on the steering wheel and pillar and wind my window up on my fingers and slice my fingers open on those annoying plastic covers with the really sharp edges underneith the seat. GARRRR Those enima's trying to do u-turns at the otherside of the tunnel into the gridlocked traffic heading back towards Orewa.

And motorbikes god damn freaking motorbikes. I am usually quite respectful of motorbikes as I roam the streets on a scooter and know it is hell out there, but god dammit not today. I had a truck and trailer unit in front of me and another one beside him in the left hand lane, taking up most of the lane as trucks tend to do. The motorbikes come zooming up in the middle of the two lanes get beside me almost taking my side mirrors off and can't get past the 2 trucks so what do they do.... they get on their horns..... MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP f**kING MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

Your in my lane twat face beeeping your horn right in my ear, your obviously not going to get between the trucks and come out the other side alive try go on the outside of one of them but noooooooo they just sit there beeeeeeeeeeeeeeping their high pitched horns continuosly to the point I was going to explode so inevitably to shut them up I take command of my lane again and try and sandwich the f**kahs into the car next to me who is doing the exact same thing as I am doing at a pace of about 0.000275km/h like everyother retard who didnt turn off like the sign said to do.

then FINALLY out the otherside and the motorbikes fighting their way through the gridlocked traffic heading the other way zooming up the queue on my side of the road into traffic head on and are trying to get back up to highway speed, I wanted to punch them in the face.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST MY NUMBER ONE MOST HATED HIGHWAY DRIVING CRIME - THESE DRIVERS NEED TO BE SHOT.. travelling at 50 f**king km an hour along a clear straight highway no cars ahead of them, get to a corner and BRAKE dropping down to almost idle speed. I'm sure the lady in the brand new honda accord was the reason why i had just sat in an hour and 45 minutes worth of traffic.

I will NEVER take that tunnel north ever again. I will continue the fun enjoyable drive around the big windy hills, just like how life used to be with hopefully a few less dickheads who will be busy fighting against all the over heating enima's on the greatest motorway upgrade since man started wiping his ass with toilet paper. If there happens to be traffic that way, oh well never mind its how its always been and its still free.

OOOOooh thats such an angry post I need to go to sleep I am grumpy.

Bind this up and sell it.

[bravo 34]

How many lanes through the tunnel each way?

[Creaver 55]

How many lanes through the tunnel each way?

2 Lanes, it was no where near as long as I was expecting/hoping...

[melowpuf 19]

2 Lanes, it was no where near as long as I was expecting/hoping...

2 lanes south 1 lane north

[bravo 34]

I presume there is room for a second lane north when it gets extended?

Bloody small-minded nz engineers - should have been designed with 3 or more lanes in mind and only construct 2 for now.

I love this:

Earlier yesterday, a Herald car took just three minutes and 43 seconds to travel the 7km from the new road's Orewa interchange to the northern end of its signature twin tunnels at the 100km/h speed limit applying to the full route.

(7km/3m43s)X60m=113km/h

[melowpuf 19]

I presume there is room for a second lane north when it gets extended?

Bloody small-minded nz engineers - should have been designed with 3 or more lanes in mind and only construct 2 for now.

I love this:

(7km/3m43s)X60m=113km/h

Heh Yup there is room for an extra lane north when they decide to upgrade it in another 40 years time at the cost of 560 billion dollars probaby

[Guest Simon*]

I presume there is room for a second lane north when it gets extended?

Bloody small-minded nz engineers - should have been designed with 3 or more lanes in mind and only construct 2 for now.

I love this:

(7km/3m43s)X60m=113km/h

Bahaha send that in to the paper and CC the cops!!!

[Guest Simon*]

Heh Yup there is room for an extra lane north when they decide to upgrade it in another 40 years time at the cost of 560 billion dollars probably

That's a pretty conservative figure Lance - it's bound to be more like 40 times that

"it's like 9/11 times a thousand"

[Creaver 55]

2 lanes south 1 lane north

I remember there being 2x lanes? Or was the side of the one going north somewhat of a runoff?

[Forrest 35]

Heh Yup there is room for an extra lane north when they decide to upgrade it in another 40 years time at the cost of 560 billion dollars probaby

I love your work bro, funniest sh*t

[bravo 34]

[Antallica 15]

You know what, after watching that I'm over it already. I'll take the free route thanks Orewa rocks anyway.

[Creaver 55]

Love the commentary Bravo

When I went through it was like 1am so couldnt see sh*t. Good video.

[Cale 36]

Bravo Bravo, thanks for the video mate!

[bravo 34]

Not my vid BTW just found on youtube - but you're welcome.

[jugla 0]

Rather interesting observation guys,if anyone has watched the Ltsa vid it also records the vehicle speeds ,does this mean they will also operate as speed cameras?

Being somewhat of a cynic I am sure it will turn out to be a revenue spinner even more than they expected if that is the case.

If only the Wgtn regional councils would get their collective heads out of their backsides and approve Transmission Gully (And actually start work on it immediately) then we would enjoy the same exciting toll technology & Big Brother bills in the mail LOL

[my_e36 43]

I tried the tunnels on Sunday and I loved it. It's well worth the $2 toll and cut like 10 minutes (if not more) out of the trip. Shorter distance travelled would means savings in petrol money, so I just got extra 10 minutes for free.

Even of those camera on the toll gantry works as a speed camera, you can alway slow down for toll and speed up after passing them. What's the difference to any other one we've got now?

The other question comes to mind - What happens if you've got "those" Euro plates. Especially those one with the funny "0" (zero with a broken bit instead of a slash)

Edit: spelling

Edited February 1, 2009 by my_e36