The Waikato Expressway is a key strategic transport corridor for the region that providing  a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Cambridge.
Fulton Hogan, as part of a JV with HEB, Jacobs and Opus International, delivered the Huntly Bypass section, which is a 15.2km stretch of road with nine bridges and two interchanges.

After three seasons of earthworks, during which the teams moved 3 million cubic metres of materials, the JV completed its biggest challenge – being a 57-metre deep “box cut” at the top of the Taupiri Range.

Cutting through to the Taupiri Summit involved a series of blasts and then moving 1.3 million cubic metres of earth and rock, which is being used mainly to fill in the deep ravines and gullies.

Challenges included:

• Building a road through a significantly culturally sensitive area while working closely with iwi onsite
• Ensuring the ecology in these sensitive areas is preserved while shifting 3.5m cubic metres of cut to fill onsite.
• Keeping the bulk of this 3.5m cubic metres within the designation boundary.
• Along with the nine bridges installing 35 culverts, some of which are in steep terrain.
• Undertaking mammilian pest control in a 64ha DoC reserve and removing all feral goats from the area
• Planting of 1.4 million trees and shrubs in time for the opening.