‘Shared path’: Plans for beachfront highway roundabout south of Napier

The site where a new roundabout will be built on State Highway 51, to the left of the road and extending the buffer for traffic queueing between the roundabout and the railway line. Photo / Warren Buckland

Preparation for work on a new roundabout to improve traffic safety on the waterfront parade at Awatoto has begun, with hopes the project will be complete by mid to late May next year.

The roundabout is planned for the intersection of the road, part of State Highway 51, and Awatoto Rd, a short distance from the Maraenui Golf Club and the Awatoto public golf course, with some of the work programme rearranged because of the need to divert resources to other projects after Cyclone Gabrielle, including the devastation of the highway south of Awatoto.

But it will be even further away, the roundabout being built on the seaward side of the current lanes to create greater room for traffic queueing on Awatoto Rd between the roundabout and the railway line.

National highways manager Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency says road widening and barrier installation is being done on SH51 between the intersection and Ellison St, Napier, a short stretch of highway reported by Hawke’s Bay Today in the past to have had a particularly high rate of fatal and otherwise serious crashes.

Waka Kotahi says a speed limit of 50km/h is in place while road workers are completing the work.

Work on the roundabout will start early in the New Year on the seaward side of SH51 and involving realignment of the road to make more space between the intersection and the railway crossing, making it safer for queued vehicles.

There will also be a new “shared path” across SH51.

Waka Kotahi says that before work begins, motorists will see protection barriers around some of the Norfolk pines alongside the road, and the agency is working with a specialist arborist to make sure these trees aren’t affected by the work.

During construction, the carpark in the beach domain about one kilometre north of the intersection will be closed to allow workers to store their equipment off the road.

The work is part of an estimated $20 million in SH51 safety improvements between Napier and Hastings.