New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards

Waikato roading project announced engineering excellence award finalist

15 October 2007

The Mercer to Longswamp Expressway on State Highway One was announced a category finalist in the 2007 New Zealand Engineering Excellence (NZEE) Awards today.

The third New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for New Zealand engineering professionals. The awards are presented in two major areas: Individual Awards, that recognise leadership, entrepreneurship, and our young engineers; and Category Awards, that recognise achievement in the various industry areas, together with a Supreme Award for the best of the Category winners.

The Mercer to Longswamp Expressway is a key link in the State Highway 1 Waikato Expressway. It runs from the township of Mercer and continues south for 12 km. The project objectives were to improve the undesirable historic crash record associated with this length of state highway and provide more efficient access to South Auckland from the Waikato region.

The route runs through geotechnically complex terrain, and is constrained on one side by the Waikato River and on the other side by the North Island Main Trunk railway. It includes five bridges, two grade-separated interchanges and four at-grade intersections.

Bloxam Burnett and Olliver Ltd undertook resource management planning, detailed design, administration of the physical works contract and construction observation over a ten year timeframe.

Realignment of the southbound lanes around the back of massive block slide features south of Mercer improved the security of the state highway and resulted in a $3,000,000 capital cost saving over the original concept.

David Elms, Convenor of the Category Awards judging panel said that the calibre of finalist projects highlighted the contribution that professional engineers make to New Zealand on a social, economic and environmental scale.

“These projects made the finalist cut because they each are outstanding examples of engineering innovation”, says Mr Elms. “This year’s finalists impressed the judges by demonstrating how their projects contributed to the national economy and the reputation of New Zealand engineering and impacted on quality of life in their communities”.

Winners of both individual and category awards will be announced at a black-tie gala dinner at TE PAPA, Wellington on Wednesday, 21 November 2007.

The New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are hosted by a consortium of five partners and 10 contributing organisations. The partners are: Centre for Advanced Engineering (CAE); Association of Local Government Engineering New Zealand Incorporated (INGENIUM); Electricity Engineers Association of New Zealand (EEA); Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand (ACENZ); and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand Inc (IPENZ).

Media enquiries contact:

Verona-Meiana Putaranui, NZEE Awards Media Co-ordinator

Email: media@ipenz.org.nz

Phone: +64 4 473 2028 or Cell: +64 21 479885