Transmission Gully construction has started

The Dom Post reports:

Almost a century after talk began about building an inland motorway north of Wellington, the first act of building Transmission Gully has started.

That first act has involved more dismantling than building, however. Just over a week ago, work began to remove 24 kilometres of high-voltage power lines that run through the gully, including 48 towers and 210 pole structures.

The lines are expected to be toppled by next month, clearing the way for construction joint-venture company Leighton-HEB to begin exploratory earthworks on the $850 million, four-lane motorway.

The project director, Michael O’Dwyer, said the demise of the gully’s titular transmission line was an exciting and important step in the motorway’s five-year construction.

He was all too aware the project had been nothing but hot air around Wellington for decades now. Many people he came across had told him they were not prepared to believe it was actually going to happen until they saw the finished product with their own eyes.

I still find it hard to believe that we have reached the point that it can’t be backtracked. It is happening.