Temporary and unofficial signs showing the way at Whakatu. Photo / Duncan Brown
It's official. They're unofficial.
They are the four signs, including the inscription "1 Apollo Express Way", which have appeared on a new figure-eight roundabout at Whakatu.
It's the centre point of one of Hawke's Bay's biggest highway constructions in recent years, the Whakatu Arterial, but according to the Hastings District
Council, the signs have nothing to do with the council. It says, however, the new route should be in use by the end of the year, complete with official signs pointing to such places as Napier, Hastings and Havelock North.
It also discounts the notion that some naming-rights deal has been struck, or that there's some inter-planetary connection, as out-of-towners may ponder when they see one of the signs, pointing to Apollo Foods Ltd and associated company Mars Manufacturing Ltd.
It is however a sign of the nearing of the completion of the route from State Highway 2 near Mangateretere and Pakowhai Rd (between Ruahapia Rd and the Chesterhope bridge).
