[2][full citation needed] When the first Europeans settled in Canterbury in the 1850s[disputed – discuss] with no deepwater ports available other than on Banks Peninsula, they had to transport their produce from the plains to Heathcote, near Sumner.

[3] Instead a road via Evans Pass[clarification needed] which is near the eastern end of the Port Hills, was selected[dubious – discuss] to connect Sumner and Lyttelton, and was completed in 1857 at a cost of £30,000.

In spite of its length, valuable heavy transport had to sometimes use Gebbie's Pass as frosts in winter could made the other two roads unsafe.

[6][failed verification] The introduction of motor vehicles to New Zealand highlighted the need for a better road connection.

In 1919 the Australian firm of Smith, Timms and Kidman offered to construct a road tunnel in three years for £700,000 or about £624,000 if the proposed tramline was eliminated, but the scheme lapsed.

[9] The resulting "Direct Access to the Sea Commission" concluded in July 1930 that they could not recommend the adoption of the proposals for either a road tunnel or a port at Christchurch as this would cause "serious hardship to traders and the farming community".

[10] The Canterbury Chamber of Commerce campaigned through the 1930s and 1940s for a road tunnel but without success until 1944, when Bill MacGibbon (deputy chairman of the Lyttelton Harbour Board and prominent in the movement to build a tunnel) was able to convince the New Zealand government to allow the Ministry of Works to prepare plans.

[11] In April 1937, a conference convened by Canterbury Chamber of Commerce with the support of the Prime Minister Michael Savage, which had 28 public bodies in attendance, made a recommendation for the construction of a road tunnel.

[12] In 1944 the Minister of Works, Bob Semple, met deputations from both the Tunnel Road Promotion Committee and the Canal League.

[13] Progress was still slow though in June 1949 a Gazette notice was issued authorising the construction of a motorway as a tunnel road.

[11] The bill was subsequently passed into law in October 1956 with the Government guarantying the repayment of any loans raised by the Road Tunnel Authority.

After the sending of a deputation to the Prime Minister (Walter Nash) and the Minister of Finance (Arnold Nordmeyer) and then a written assurance from the Road Tunnel Authority that the 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.

This required the construction of bridges over the Ōpāwaho / Heathcote River and the Lyttelton railway line, an interchange and underpass system at the bottom of Horotane Valley.

Despite the use of water exhaust scrubbers on the diesel-powered excavation equipment it was still found necessary improve the ventilation by locating near the rock face two 200 hp 5 ft 6 in diameter fans capable of exhausting 100,000 cubic feet per hour via a flexible 6 ft (1.8 m) diameter flexible plastic pipe to the portal.

Despite being delayed by wet weather at the start of the work the excavation of the tunnel was completed on 18 August 1962, within both the time and budget.

[11] After the tunnel's concrete walls had been sandblasted they were lined with 306,000 sq ft of tiles imported from overseas using a newly invented epoxy glue made by Fletcher industries using technology sourced from the Australian company of A C Horn.

Ventilation buildings were constructed at both ends of the tunnel in each of which were located one fresh-air and one exhaust fan, both 12 ft (3.7 m) in diameter.

[3][16] On the first night that cars were allowed through the queue stretched from the tunnel, down Ferry Rd and into Barbadoes Street as far back as the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch.

[17] When the tunnel officially opened on 27 February 1964 by Governor-General Sir Bernard Fergusson[18] it was hailed by the local community as "the new gateway for the Port to the Plains" and a significant development in the history of the region.

[22] The tunnel was also closed temporarily following the 2010 Canterbury earthquake and subsequent aftershocks to allow for structural integrity inspections to take place.