One of the final touches on the five-year Northern Corridor Improvements (NCI) project has also proved to be one of the more dramatic.

A 30 shift (six week) project was completed in just 10 shifts by using three paving crews – running a milling, membrane and paving operation in parallel – to prepare for and lay 128,000m2 (7,300 tonne) of epoxy modified porous asphalt on a bitumen membrane on SH1 and SH18.

The goal was reduced costs (traffic management in particular), increased quality (the number of transverse joints) and minimised traffic disruption.

Involving the NCI project team and the Fulton Hogan Auckland supply chain (milling, membranes, general cartage, heavy haulage, traffic management, industries, and coastline), up to 60 trucks ferried the epoxy modified porous asphalt from the Reliable Way Asphalt plant (the only plant in Auckland producing this mix).

Surfacing Divisional Manager, Shane Penn Sawers, says a work window of just 9.30pm to 4am (northbound) and 8pm to 3:30am (southbound) meant every minute counted.

 “This job will be spoken about for years to come by those involved, and some will see it as a career highlight,” says Shane.

“The way multiple blue teams came together to make this happen in the best interests of Auckland and the Fulton Hogan brand was nothing short of inspirational. This is an outcome that everyone should be proud of.”

NCI is an alliance of Fulton Hogan, HEB Construction, WSP and Jacobs on behalf of Waka Kotahi. It included a 5km extension of the Northern Busway to Albany (opened in May 2022) and the completion of the Western Ring Route which opened in stages in early 2023. Several local community sports and recreational facilities were relocated and/or rebuilt as part of the project, including North Harbour Hockey, North Harbour BMX, Wainoni Park Pony Club and Greenhithe Riding for the Disabled.