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Construction on Tauranga's Eastern Link is set to go into overdrive as crucial final pieces of the New Zealand Transport Agency's project begin to take shape.

NZTA TEL senior project manager Wayne Troughton confirms TEL is now 75 per cent complete and motorists could be on the highway as soon as the end of next year – weather dependent.

An aerial view of the construction work at the Domain Road interchange. Photo: NZTA.

One of the key drivers in pushing the last part of the project across the finish line is next month's full opening of the eastbound lane from Mangatawa to Domain Road.

The yet to be sealed stretch of road follows the opening of the road layout change at the Tara Road and Domain Road intersection last week.

'As soon as we get people on the eastbound lane we can work on the westbound lane. Essentially it's a critical part and it's going to take a year,” says Wayne.

'It will also be good for the construction guys shelling out for maintenance of that part of road because that is a lot.”

Work on the westbound lane will see the road completely ripped up and re-laid, as opposed to touching up the existing road motorists currently travel on.

Wayne says work remains ongoing at the Domain Road Interchange with two of three lightweight fill embankments under construction. The embankments form the overpass across the interchange with 10,500 lightweight fill blocks, 40,000m3, used in the process.

Weighing 80kg per cubic metre, the blocks are stacked within the embankment before a sheet of polyethylene covers the total area preventing any hydrocarbons, such as fuel and oil, seeping through the structure.

Looking ahead to the final year and a half, Wayne is optimistic the project will finish ahead of schedule with parts of the 23km TEL already sealed and completed.

'We were ahead of schedule last year and still are. This helps because it takes the pressure off everyone, so we are in a good space.

'It has definitely gone quicker because we have had some good weather. I always cross my fingers a little bit though because we still have a bit to get through.”

Having overseen the project since its inception in November 2010, he says watching the Bay of Plenty's largest roading project take shape is extremely rewarding.

"I have been on the job for three years now and when I first came there were no roads or anything. We had no appreciation for what it would look like, but now we do.

'Now many of the sections of the TEL are being sealed, it is taking shape."

Other milestones coming up in between April and May include a freshly sealed and finished Paengaroa roundabout - expected to open around Easter - and work beginning on the toll gantry construction towards the Paengaroa end.