1965: Kaimai Tunnel

October 2, 2023

By AHNZ

Kaimai is a Government tunnel began by National 2.0 on 2 October 1965 and completed on 12 September 1978 under National 3.0. It is New Zealand’s longest tunnel, 9km.

It was over-budget and over-time but I think all public projects are secretly supposed to be that way. If they told us at the start what these things would cost we would think twice about letting The State run things. They can’t have that.

Today in history, 24 February, 1970, a cave-in during construction killed 4 workers and trapped 12 of the workers. It took 80 hours to rescue the men which isn’t so bad. These days it would probably take 10 years or more.¹

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1 Yes I am talking about Pike River. Ref. AHNZ

image ref. Alchetron, alchetron.com/Kaimai-Tunnel

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