tunnel would not be completed prior to the completion of the harbour upgrades, approval was given in March 1960 for the raising of a loan of £3,250,000. So far £2,652,330 had been raised, most of it in parcels at 4.875% and 5%. Call for tenders With the design and specifications completed by August 1960 the MOW called for tenders to undertake the project, which as a result of their detailed design they estimated would cost £3,500,000. The contract called for the work to be priced on linear footage basis, which put the onus on the contract bidders to determine the likely ground conditions, which would impact on how long it would take to dig the tunnel. Fortunately, the records from the construction of the rail tunnel between 1861 and 1867 were still available. Tenders were received in January 1961 for building the tunnel from seven companies, the prices varying from £1,770,431 to £3,774,117, with all but two being a combination of a New Zealand contractor and an international contractor. As the Road Tunnel Authority had reserved the right to tile the tunnel surfaces if funds permitted, it decided to exercise this option and awarded a £1,947,748 contract which included tiling of the tunnel on 28 January 1961 to the lowest bidder, a 60/40 joint venture of New Zealand-owned Fletcher Construction and Kaiser Engineers and Constructors of the United States of America. In addition, a motorway was to be built from Ferry Road to the Heathcote Underpass near the Heathcote portal, a distance of some 2½ miles (5 km). This required the construction of bridges over the Heathcote River and the Lyttelton railway line, an interchange and underpass system at the bottom of Horotane Valley. This work cost approximately £530,000 and was paid for by the National Roads Board. Construction The contract specified the project had to be completed within three years, irrespective of whether the tunnel was fully lined with tiles or not. With it expected to take six months to import the equipment and material and establish on site, then allowing nine months at the end of the schedule to tile the tunnel, Fletcher-Kaiser's project manager Jack (J.G.) Smith estimated they only had 21 months to dig and concrete the tunnel. Whereas the law had previously required that when digging tunnels that all workings were opened from each end and that no internal combustion engines could be used within