Safer, more reliable gateway to Christchurch
Delivered by the McConnell Dowell–Downer Joint Venture for Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, the SH1 Russley Road Upgrade transformed one of Christchurch’s most important transport corridors into a safer, more resilient and more welcoming gateway to the city.
Working beside Christchurch International Airport in a live, high-volume state highway environment, the team upgraded 3.5 km of SH1 and delivered the landmark Memorial Avenue flyover and 400-tonne steel arch, the award-winning Harewood pedestrian and cycle underpass, Southern Airport Access, and extensive road, pavement, drainage, utility and landscaping works.
Project snapshot
| Client | New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) |
| Location | Russley Road / SH1, Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Delivery team | McConnell Dowell–Downer Joint Venture |
| Contract model | Early Contractor Involvement (ECI), followed by staged construction |
| ECI award | August 2010 |
| Main construction commenced | March 2015 |
| Opened to the public | 11 November 2017 |
| Practical completion | June 2018 |
| Project cost | $112 million |
| Programme outcome | Practical completion achieved seven months early |
| Value engineering | $3.3 million in savings returned to NZTA |
| Peak workforce | Approximately 130 people, including subcontractors |
Scope of works
Key quantities and features included:
- 3.5 km of four-laning
- four-lane Memorial Avenue gateway flyover with a signalised eight-lane intersection beneath
- a four-legged, 27 m-high iconic arch comprising 30 fabricated sections and approximately 400 tonnes of steel
- a 150 m-long pedestrian and cycle underpass formed from 6 m precast units
- Southern Airport Access, including a 20 m bridge and grade-separated ramps
- approximately 250,000 m³ of fill in the Memorial Avenue embankment
- 20,000 m³ of excavation for the Southern Airport Access, reused in the Memorial embankment
- 10,000 tonnes of contaminated fill removed
- 30 km of cable and 20 km of ducting
- 4,000 m³ of concrete
- 130,000 m² of pavement.
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