Manawatu-Tararua Highway: Alignment taking shape

A completed section of earthworks in Fill 9, where work will soon start on laying the first pavements on the project. Photo / Waka Kotahi

Grant Kauri is the owner interface manager for Waka Kotahi.

Grant Kauri is the owner interface manager for Waka Kotahi. Photo / Supplied

With bulk earthworks nearing completion on Te Ahu a Turanga: Manawatū Tararua Highway, the road is now really starting to take shape.

About 5.5 million cubic metres of earth have been moved across the site since construction started in January 2021, placing the team in a good position to complete the project’s total earthworks, 6 million cubic metres, later this year.

Most of the remaining earthworks are in Zone 3, at the top part of the project, where wet ground conditions have made progress difficult.

However, despite the challenges from weather and ground conditions, the hard work of the earthworks teams means they are well on track for their targeted completion.

Features and utilities of the highway – such as retaining walls, surface water channels and mulch-covered batters – are being completed throughout the project, making it look like a road now.

Completed earthworks sections – including Fill 9, which can be seen from the Ashhurst end of the project – are having drainage installed before work starts on pavements (road surface) this winter.

Our latest flyover footage has been released, so I encourage you all to head to www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/te-ahu-a-turanga/ to check out the progress to date.

Structures update

On Parahaki Bridge over the Manawatū River, construction of the superstructure (the part of the bridge that the road goes on), has started on pier 1.

Concrete is being poured on top of the pier which will allow it to hold the form traveller, a large steel structure that moves out from a pier, allowing the bridge deck to be constructed in sections.

Construction of the segments of the superstructure are expected to begin later in the year.

On other parts of the bridge, pier 2 in the middle of the river is now complete, while good progress continues to be made on pier 3 on the northern side.

Over the river at the Eco-Viaduct, more beams continue to arrive with 18 now in place on their piers. Twenty-four more beams will be delivered and installed by November 2023.

Construction of the pre-cast concrete deck panels for the Eco-Viaduct has started, and these will be installed from July.

Traffic switch to new local road

With construction about to ramp up on the western roundabout at the Ashhurst end of the project, people driving the short section of Napier Rd to get to Te Apiti - Manawatu Gorge will soon be driving on a new section of road.

The project is building a local road for access to the Western Gateway Park, which will become the main western access point for the gorge walk once the road opens.

All traffic currently using Napier Rd to get to the temporary carpark will be switched over to the new road in June to allow us to build the roundabout without delaying traffic.

As this switchover will take place overnight, there will be no disruption for the public.