Jacobs will design all 15 bridges on New Zealand's NZ$3.65 billion Warkworth to Te Hana motorway

Jacobs announced the appointment on Nov. 5. Its package also covers design management, geotechnical and digital engineering, and building services, the company said. Highways Today reported that the value of the work has not been made public. Jacobs has more than 400 staff in New Zealand and worked on the Eastern Busway, the Northwest Busway and the Northern Corridor Improvements in Auckland.

The four-lane route runs about 26 km (16 miles), with interchanges serving Warkworth, Wellsford and Te Hana and twin tunnels, each more than 1 km long, beneath Kraack Hill near the Dome Valley. Crews will move more than 10 million cubic meters of earth and build two underpasses and 12 wetland basins for stormwater. The government describes the bridges as standardized structures, though Highways Today noted that each site has its own ground conditions and crossing geometry.

In July 2026 the Northway consortium closed its financing with the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi. Its members are ACCIONA Concesiones, Aberdeen Investments, Global Sustainable Infrastructure GP IV and ACCIONA Construction New Zealand, with Downer New Zealand and AECOM as delivery partners. The 32-year deal covers design, construction, finance, operation and maintenance. ACCIONA values it at NZ$3.649 billion in present-value terms; designing and building it is put at about NZ$3 billion in nominal terms. Payments during operation hinge on performance measures such as asset condition and availability, and the road returns to the agency in 2058.

Sod was turned on Oct. 30. Detailed design and early enabling work continue, major construction starts in 2027 and the motorway is due to open in 2033. The government expects about 400 site jobs at first, rising to roughly 1,000 at the peak, and about 60% of physical works spending to flow through local suppliers.