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Work started last week to dismantle the launching gantry dubbed ‘Big Blue’ on the Newmarket Viaduct Replacement Project, the New Zealand Transport Agency has announced. It will take four weeks to dismantle the launching gantry. It will be stored in sections in shipping containers until it is required for another project in the country or overseas.

The gantry’s removal marked the end of heavy construction on the project. “Big Blue’s done a brilliant job,” said Tommy Parker, New Zealand Transport Agency’s (NZTA) State Highways manager for Auckland and Northland. “Its role in helping construct the new viaduct and remove the old one has been a key to the success of a complex and innovative project that has attracted attention and praise from around the world.”

Parker added: “Using the launching gantry has allowed our project team to construct the new viaduct safely, quickly, and with minimum impact on the surrounding community, and without major disruptions for the tens of thousands of motorway drivers or the 55,000 vehicles using the surrounding streets each day.”

The gantry weighs almost 860t and is 140m long. It has been in Newmarket for almost four years, working alongside a part of the Auckland motorway network that carries on average 160,000 vehicles daily — the busiest section of motorway in New Zealand.

The gantry was first used in Hong Kong. It was shipped to New Zealand in 2004 to construct the Waiwera Viaducts on the Northern Gateway Toll Road, north of Auckland, before continuing its travels to Newmarket.

Auckland’s ‘Big Blue’ gantry completes work