The new Fitzherbert Ave extension is finally finished.
Whanganui's Fitzherbert Ave extension is finally open to motorists.
Work on the 600m extension began in November 2020 for a cost of $3 million.
Whanganui District Council senior roading engineer Brent Holmes was on site on Friday afternoon, shortly before the cones blocking entrances were removed for the final time.
Holmes said additional work had been done for neighbouring developers, which was cost-recoverable.
"We've undertaken a lot of service connections for them, to effectively avoid them coming in over the next three months and ripping our road apart," he said.
"We've done our best and it's here now. We can open up by 4 o'clock this afternoon."
Just over $2 million came from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Provincial Growth Fund.
"They approached us during the first lockdown of 2020 and said they would like to push the project ahead," Holmes said.
"Effectively, MBIE paid for the road and council paid for the rest of the services underneath.
"That's a great investment from our point of view. It's prompted us to push those services forward and it includes a new sewer pump station."
It was "the things you don't see" that took a lot of time to complete, Holmes said.
"There's water articulation, stormwater, heavy sewerage, power, gas, and service connections to the subdivisions.
"The road portion actually happens quite quickly but everything else is slow."
Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall said the ministry's contribution had been invaluable and the benefits of the project would be seen immediately.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment provided $2.04 million to the project through the Provincial Growth Fund. Photo / Bevan Conley
"Completing the extension was something I committed to when I was elected as mayor as this had been mooted for well over a decade without significant progress.
"Jobs have been created and opportunities for housing enabled.
"Importantly, there will not be as many heavy vehicles winding their way through suburban streets as the distance to the state highway network has been reduced. It's safer and will reduce emissions – a massive win-win."
B. Bullock Ltd has been the main contractor.
Holmes said there would eventually be six streets coming off the extension, including one that cut right through to Fox Road.
"Another will link to the Broadview Resthome, which fronts out to Mosston Road at the moment.
"The residents there have been keeping an eye on things and letting me know which of the guys are working hard and who is having slightly longer smokos."
Whanganui District Council principal planner Gavin McCullagh said the extension opening allowed the wider area to be developed.
It is bounded by residential-zoned land.
"This can now be developed in the pattern of a structure plan which was prepared in anticipation of this transport link," McCullagh said.
"The Fitzherbert Avenue extension, in conjunction with the Springvale structure plan, will support a high-quality urban environment, walkable neighbourhoods, with streets well-connected to public spaces and a shared cycleway network linking to schools and adjacent areas.
"We look forward to seeing future residential development."
Brent Holmes says there will eventually be six streets coming off the extension. Photo / Bevan Conley
Holmes said between 550 and 600 homes could be built on the entire structure plan map.
"This obviously facilitates it to begin. We put the road through then people start to build on the road frontages. That gets the momentum going and the side roads come into play."
Around 70 jobs -52 full-time – were created and protected through funding from the Provincial Growth Fund, both directly and indirectly in the supply and construction chain, Holmes said.
"Workers who had lost jobs in other blue collar sectors because of Covid-19 were able to be redeployed over many months.
"The benefits to the community are immense, with significant downstream investment into residential infrastructure and ongoing employment opportunities in trades, engineering, materials supply, design and furnishings."
The extension route was expected to be of huge benefit to the public as businesses continued to move to Mill Road, Whanganui and Partners acting chief executive, Jonathan Sykes said.
"We know these projects take a good deal of time and patience from the public, but the scale and significance of this extension demonstrates Whanganui is a city expanding sustainably and at pace."
