Mike Watson05:00, May 25 2021
SIMON O CONNOR/STUFF
The bypass required two new bridges to be built over the Awakino River.
Taranaki’s northern gateway is about to get a little wider, and more welcoming, for visitors. Since 1924 motorists and truckies have waited in a queue as oncoming traffic inched its way through the one lane Awakino Gorge tunnel on State Highway 3. In a few days the waiting game will be a thing of the past as the $50.1m Awakino tunnel bypass project is fully opened to all vehicles.
Waka Kotahi/Stuff
Two new bridges have been built to bypass the 100-year-old Awakino Gorge tunnel on State Highway 3, north of New Plymouth.