The Transmission Gully motorway north of Wellington will be open by September 2021 as part of a settlement agreement reached following the conclusion of negotiations related to the commercial impacts of the COVID-19 shutdown on the project. 

The in-principle agreement between Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, the project contractor (Wellington Gateway Partnership), the builder (CPB HEB Joint Venture), and the maintenance contractor (Ventia), includes a compensation payment of NZD 145.5 million (US$ 95 million) to the CPB HEB Joint Venture to cover the costs of delays and other impacts resulting from the five-week COVID-19 shutdown, and separate payments to the Wellington Gateway Partnership (WGP) and Ventia to cover their own costs from the COVID-19 delays and associated issues. The agreed payment to WGP is NZD 12.5 million (US$ 8.16 million). The payment to Ventia is still to be finalized but is expected to be approximately NZD 5 million (US$ 3.26 million).

Once open, there will be further work required before the project is fully completed, including landscaping and testing and commissioning of new technology systems. This work is expected to take approximately six months to complete after the road has opened to traffic. The work will not impact traffic, with all four lanes of the road to be opened without restrictions by September 2021.

Transmission Gully project is now approximately 85% complete, and the settlement agreement will ensure that the road is completed to a high standard, meets the needs of customers, and still achieves good value for money for New Zealanders. The updated total cost of the Transmission Gully project, including the settlement payments and the contract variation, is now NZD 1.25 billion (US$ 816 million).