State Highway 1 Loop Rd roundabout in June 2020. Photo / Michael Cunningham
State Highway 1 Loop Rd roundabout in June 2020. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Just when you thought it couldn't take any longer, Government indecision has added at least a month to the Loop Rd roundabout work south of Whangārei.
The detail has emerged in the fallout of the Government canning the four-lane State Highway 1 development leading into the city from the south.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency had paused work on the roundabout in May as it "awaits confirmation of the preferred corridor".
The time was used to design a four-lane crossing at the bridge south of the roundabout works, in line with the expected motorway that would be leading into Whangārei.
Then came the Government's announcement that the New Zealand Upgrade Programme was taking a major cut and the four-laning project was no more.
Aerial view of road works on State Highway One at Otaika in February 2020. Photo / Supplied
Instead, there will be new safety works on the southern side of the roundabout. Lining that up with the roundabout works means NZTA will "continue pausing".
Whangārei Sheryl Mai said she was regularly approached by citizens frustrated over delays in traffic. "We are collectively disappointed in the time that project has taken."
The work began in March 2019 with an initial finish date of December 2020. The goalposts shifted in December 2019, with the roundabout expanded to allow two lanes of traffic, which pushed the finish date to "early 2022".
The Advocate reported this month that date also appeared to be slipping with the next stage of work about to begin - and 15 months allotted for it to be completed.
That would take it to September 2022 - plus at least one more month.
Transport Minister Michael Wood has told the Advocate most of the upgrades to the Loop Rd works were under way as planned.
"I understand people's frustrations and it's very rare to have these situations. We had to take the time to carefully work through the issues with the NZ Upgrade Programme as there was billions of dollars of taxpayer's money involved."
An NZTA spokeswoman rejected the term "pause", instead preferring "partial pause". While work to the south had stopped, she said road sealing and footpath construction had continued.
She said "the pause on the southern stage of works was required while we waited for more clarity" about the Northland aspect of the New Zealand Upgrade Programme.
Part of that was improved safety measures on the Whangārei-to-Port Marsden project. She said NZTA would "need to continue pausing" to make sure the work south of the roundabout fit with that new plan.
Mai said the council would continue to push for the four-lane highway as the "number one project for the region".
