The Seatoun Tunnel links the suburbs of Strathmore and Seatoun through Seatoun Hill, joining the roads of Broadway and Ferry Street. The tunnel was constructed in 1906-1907, opening in 1907.
The need for the Seatoun Tunnel was driven by the isolation of the Seatoun community. A ferry service, for so long the dominant mode of transport for a young Wellington (and indeed, pre-colonial Whanganui-a-Tara), was Seatoun’s only reliable connection with the rest of the city. Ferries ran between the city and wharves at Evans Bay, Karaka Bay, and Seatoun.
In 1904 The Miramar Borough Council began debate over how the community of Seatoun could break its dependency on the sea. On 12th December 1904 Seatoun’s transport situation was the first urgent consideration for the council’s meeting. The council was presented with three options :
(1) running a ferry service, estimated cost, £20,000; (2) straightening the road at Chinaman’s Gardens and running a tunnel though Seatoun Hill, estimated cost, £10,00; (3) establishing busesand buildings to connect Miramar Wharf with the Flat, estimated cost £6,000.
Miramar historian John Struthers wrote that the population of Seatoun was less than 1,000 at the time. With logic that seems strange in hindsight, the Council considered funding all three, though that would mean running two services in competition with each other.
To induce these developments, two members of the preeminent Crawford family met the proposal with an offer of ten acres for a park at Chinaman’s Gardens if the plan went through, while Miramar Limited offered twenty-five acres in Miramar North if a tramway system were extended there.
However, the plan to develop all three options was met with considerable opposition due to the cost and questionable logic behind the idea, and the scheme was abandoned.
The situation shifted once more, however, when it became known that Wellington City made plans to extend its tramway services to Kilbirnie, finishing at Rongotai Road. The Miramar Borough Council investigated extending the tramline through Miramar to Seatoun via a tunnel through Seatoun Hill, with the project costed at £23,000. It was put to a vote (presumably within the borough) and it passed by 360 votes to 47.
Local figures and syndicates put up £21,500 for the project: £5,000 came from H.D. Crawford, £8,000 from A. and C. Crawford, £5,000 from Miramar Limited, £2,000 from Watt’s Peninsula Land Company, and £1,500 from the Evans Bay and Miramar Estate Company.
The contract for the tunnel was signed on 21st August 1906, but construction was not completed until December 1907. The tunnel measures 144m (470 feet) long, and 8.2m (27 feet) wide. From local newspaper reports it appears there were delays in construction, which left the council and public unhappy with the progress. One of the apparent reasons was that the project was understaffed , while the death of the chief contractor Jonathan Sanders/Saunders also stalled things.
In 2011 increased earthquake scrutiny called into question the strength of the Seatoun Tunnel (along with Wellington’s other transport tunnels). While not judged a large risk of damage or collapse, engineers said the tunnel’s portals were deemed in need of bracing. Seatoun Tunnel’s bracing and strengthening work is scheduled for 2017-2018, after similar work has been completed on the Northland and Hataitai tunnels, and is forecast to cost $2 million.
John Struthers writes that ‘the installation of the electric tramway system proved to be the making of the Borough’, with the Miramar peninsula’s population growing rapidly. The completion of the tunnel was integral to Seatoun’s development and following it’s completion, Seatoun grew into one of Wellington’s most prestigious suburbs. The suburb has some of Wellington’s highest property prices, and the numerous beaches and lengthy coastline make it an oft visited destination for Wellingtonians. Though Seatoun now has multiple points of entry, the tunnel remains the primary access route.
The Seatoun Tunnel has tremendous historical and utility value. It is hard to imagine the development of Seatoun, one of Wellingtons’ most distinct suburbs, without it. Perhaps more than anything, the tunnel and Seatoun’s development demonstrate the power of infrastructure and the various barriers to unlocking a city’s geography.
