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Story: Roads

Transmission Gully motorway

  • Transmission Gully, 2017

  • Transmission Gully, 2018

  • Transmission Gully, 2019

  • Transmission Gully, 2020

  • Transmission Gully, 2021

Click on the right-hand arrow to view photographs

Slideshow of aerial photographs taken by Leo Cooney during the construction of the Transmission Gully motorway north of Wellington between 2017 and 2021. Viewed from above Pāuatahanui/Haywards Junction, they show progress on the motorway, looking north to the Wainui Saddle.

The 27-kilometre motorway between Linden and Mackays Crossing replaced a coastal section of State Highway 1 that was narrow in places and vulnerable to slips and (in future) rising sea levels. Built by a public-private partnership at an eventual cost of $1.25 billion, Transmission Gully was expected to save 11 minutes on an average journey when it opened in March 2022.

Using this item

Private collection

by Leo Cooney

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

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How to cite this page

Carl Walrond, Roads – Centralised road funding, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/47781/transmission-gully-motorway (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Carl Walrond, published 17 April 2023, updated 1 March 2016.