Western Ring Route


The Western Ring Route is a motorway system being constructed in Auckland, New Zealand. It currently runs along the entire Southwestern Motorway, most of the Northwestern Motorway, the entire Upper Harbour Motorway, and the entire Upper Harbour Highway. When the Upper Harbour Highway is upgraded to motorway status, the route will surpass the Southern Motorway to become the longest motorway in New Zealand at 48 kilometres in length. It runs through Manukau, Waitakere, and the North Shore, bypassing the Auckland city centre and thus providing a second motorway route through the Auckland isthmus.

History

The ring route had been planned as early as the first half of the 20th century. Some critics have alleged that the rerouting of State Highway 1 over the Auckland Harbour Bridge was a primary contributor to the decades-long delays. The rerouting is alleged to have significantly contributed to the need for a massive motorway through the centre of Auckland, severely damaging inner city suburbs such as Freemans Bay and Grafton.
The section of SH 20 from Queenstown Road to Richardson Road opened on 15 May 2009. The section of SH 18 connecting the Greenhithe Bridge and SH 16 and the extension of SH 16 to Brigham Creek Road opened in August 2011.
Construction of the Waterview Connection began in late 2011 and it was opened to traffic on 2 July 2017. This completed the route as a highway, with a remaining section of SH 18 still to be upgraded to motorway standard. The opening of the Waterview Connection allows traffic to travel along the entire length of the highway, from SH 1 near Rosedale to SH 1 at Manukau.
The Upper Harbour Highway section will be upgraded to motorway status as part of the Northern Corridor Improvements project, with construction starting in 2018 and expected to be completed by 2022.

Major junctions