New Zealand’s Northland Expressway – Shortlisting three bidders

In order to advancing the Warkworth to Te Hana section of the Northland Expressway in New Zealand, three consortia have been shortlisted.

An 850m-long twin-bore tunnel in the Dome Valley and three interchanges, at Warkworth, Wellsford and Te Hana, are the contents of this indicative design for the new 26km road north of Auckland. The route is going to link to the new Pūhoi to Warkworth expressway.

The three shortlisted consortia are:

• Northway ­– comprising Acciona Concesiones SL, abrdn Global Sustainable Infrastructure GP IV Ltd and Acciona Construction New Zealand Ltd
• Go>North – comprising Vinci Highways SAS, John Laing Ltd, Vinci Construction Grands Projets SAS, Vinci Construction GeoInfrastructure SAS and HEB Construction Ltd
• Together North – comprising Plenary Origination Pty Ltd, Webuild SpA, WBCA Pty Ltd, Gamuda Engineering Pty Ltd and Service Stream Holdings Pty Ltd

According to infrastructure and transport minister Chris Bishop: “The shortlisted consortia were all well positioned to deliver a high-quality motorway that will boost regional resilience, enhance road safety and travel reliability and strengthen vital connections for freight, tourism and everyday drivers.”

Currently, these three groups are due to prepare Requests for Proposals for the financing, design, construction, management and maintenance of the project under a public private partnership.

While the scheduled date for announcing a preferred bidder is early 2026, subject to negotiations, the contract is expected to be granted in mid-2026 and the successful consortia will commence detailed design and early construction works in late 2026.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi is currently progressing planning and design for the remaining sections of the corridor. The emerging preferred corridor for section 2, Te Hana to Port Marsden Highway, was announced in April 2025.

“We received very strong interest in this project from both domestic and international consortia, several of which included companies who attended the Investment Summit,” said Bishop.