Grafton Gully is a deep (about 50 m) and very wide (about 100 m) gully cutting northwards (towards the sea) through the volcanic hills of the Auckland Volcanic Field in Auckland, New Zealand. It divides the CBD of the city from the suburbs of Grafton and Parnell in the east.
Grafton Gully is crossed by Grafton Bridge near its south end. Symonds Street Cemetery lies on its western slope.
The gully is of the few areas in Auckland proper which has not been claimed by either buildings nor for recreation (mostly due to the steepness of its sides), though prior to the construction of the motorway, part of the gully was occupied by the Blandford Park sports facility until the mid 1960s.[1]
Large extents of the gully are still mostly covered with bush, though the bottom of the gully carries multiple motorway lanes of the State Highways 1, 16 and 16A into the city further north (such as to Ports of Auckland). SH16 (Stanley Street) carried an average of 34,000 vehicles per day in 2003.[2]
The Grafton Gully motorway project included two stages (with a third planned for when future traffic reaches trigger levels) and was built for NZ$ 68 million during 2001-2003.[2]
It is hoped that by 2012, the Northwestern Cycleway could be extended through the gully, as far as the University of Auckland campus areas in the eastern Auckland CBD.[3]