Holidaymakers can look forward to some long-awaited improvements on busy motorways this summer but have to put up with Covid-impacted delays on some other big roading projects.
The highly-anticipated Pūhoi to Warkworth highway north of Auckland has not been completed in time for summer, but Wellingtonians will be elated with the pre-Christmas opening of the Peka Peka to Ōtaki expressway.
Aucklanders hitting the road and travelling south will also be pleased that after decades of planning and six years of construction, the 22km Hamilton bypass, which opened in July, means no more snaking through city streets to reconnect with State Highway 1.
North of Auckland
The most frustrating drive for Aucklanders will be the trip north, past the impressive viaducts north of the Johnstones Hill tunnels, which were planned to be opened last summer as part of the four-lane Pūhoi to Warkworth highway, followed by the long-running roadworks through Dome Valley north of Warkworth.
The 15km of safety improvements through Dome Valley, dubbed the “Killing Fields” for its notorious black spots dotted with white crosses, were due to be finished in 2021.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport agency Auckland and Northland regional manager Stephen Collett said almost 8km of flexible median barrier and 4.5km of side barriers have been installed along Dome Valley, but work is being rescoped on a 3.2km stretch south of Wellsford.
He said between August and November this year, new flexible barriers had been hit 17 times, preventing head-on and potentially life-threatening incidents. Between 2006 and 2019, 21 people died and 45 were seriously injured in crashes along the dangerous stretch of State Highway 1.
It’s a reminder to motorists to drive safely and help deliver on the Road to Zero safety strategy - which aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries on New Zealand roads by 40 per cent by 2030.
New Zealand is currently tracking towards the highest road death toll in more than a decade in 2022 with more than 350 fatalities in the final days of the year.
Tarseal problems on a new section of SH1 through Dome Valley, where vehicles were damaged and left with tar sticking to tyres, were repaired by Fulton Hogan in mid-December.
Works on Dome Valley were due to shut down on December 22 and be back early in the New Year to complete long-life road markings.
Waka Kotahi has been cagey about the opening date of the Pūhoi to Warkworth highway, which was due to open last summer. When Covid delayed the final earthwork season the previous summer, the opening date was pushed back to May last year.
Since June this year, a section of the highway has opened at the Johnstones Hill end across the impressive Arawhiti ki Ōkahu viaduct before drivers get off at Pūhoi and back on to SH1 with a 60km/h speed limit for safety reasons.
Waka Kotahi will only say the highway, named Ara Tūhono, or “connecting path”, will open sometime in 2023. Spokesman Andrew Robertson said an update on the opening date would be announced once the works are completed, safety and quality tests are signed off by an independent reviewer, and contractual issues with the Northern Express Group (NX2) consortium involving the impact of Covid-19 are resolved.
The Herald understands the physical works could be completed in April/May and the highway fully open two to three months later.
The current cost of the project is $877.5 million, but in October it was reported Waka Kotahi had received a claim for an additional $280m, but has not seen any evidence to support a claim of this size.
When the highway does fully open, the 18.5km route will be an impressive sight, featuring natural forms, a kauri reserve at bridge level looking down on the Pūhoi River, and 50m-high cut slopes with layers of rock forms breaking out to valley views, all following a curved path to Warkworth.
The drive will chop 11 minutes off the current route, be a much safer and more reliable drive for the 24,000 vehicles that use the road every day and connect to Auckland Transport’s $62m Matakana link road that avoids Warkworth’s infamous Hill St intersection.
The SH1 project site will be closed from midday on December 23 until January 3. On January 4, workers will be back for inductions, safety checks in preparation for work restarting on January 5.
Auckland
Within Auckland, two major projects are progressing on State Highway 1 - long-running work connecting SH1 to SH18 at Constellation Drive, known as the Northern Corridor Improvements, and widening the Southern motorway between Papakura and Drury at a cost of $655m.
The Northern Corridor improvements were due to be completed in May this year at a cost of $700m, but Covid delays and rising costs - the new budget is $900m - mean the project is not due for completion until mid-2023.
Collet said the project will not only open up access to the Western Ring Route and the airport but include 7km of walking and cycling paths across SH1 and SH18 linking to local roads and parks and upgrades to hockey, BMX, and pony sporting facilities.
The site will be closed between December 22 and January 9.
Motorists’ misery from widening SH1 from Manukau to Papakura - which took four years to build and was plagued by delays - is set to continue with the move to the next section of the Southern Motorway from Papakura to Drury, which has been underway for 20 months and not due for completion until 2027.
The $655m project includes building a third lane in each direction along the 6km route to the new Drury South interchange, upgrading the existing Drury interchange and widening three bridges. It allows for planned improvements to the adjacent rail line, new stations at Drury and electrification of the rail line from Papakura to Drury. There’s also a walking and cycling path alongside the motorway.
Waka Kotahi is progressing with route protection plans for the next stage between Drury and Bombay.
In mid-December, Transport Minister Michael Wood turned the first sod on another major road in Auckland - the O Mahurangi Penlink project, costing $830 million and connecting the Whangaparāoa Peninsula with SH1 in Auckland. The long-awaited link road is due to open in late 2026.
The bridge design is a hybrid between a traditional box girder and cable-stayed bridge, making it attractive from all angles and more respectful to ecological and cultural sites.
Bay of Plenty
Dome Valley in Northland isn’t the only dangerous busy stretch of road being improved. On State Highway 2 between Waihī and Ōmokoroa in the Bay of Plenty, Waka Kotahi is undertaking safety improvements after 25 people died and 66 were seriously injured between 2009 and 2018, many due to head-on collisions and crashes at intersections.
Work began this year on installing 14.1km of median barrier and six roundabouts, with one built and one underway. Work is happening across 10 sections, each section taking between 12 and 18 months. The project is due to be completed in 2025 and risen in cost from $101m to $169m.
A Waka Kotahi spokeswoman said a big challenge was maintaining two-way traffic flow on the busy state highway, with about 15,000 vehicles passing through each day.
“We appreciate the ongoing work may cause frustration, but we ask drivers to please be respectful of road workers. They deserve to feel safe at work,” she said.
Roadworks will shut down between December 22 and January 4.
Another big project in and around Tauranga is stage one of the Takitimu North link connecting Tauranga and Te Puna with a new four-lane expressway and shared path, which got underway last year. This project has swelled in cost from a spend of $286m in 2018 to $655m due to the impact of Covid-19, a shortage in materials, and other delays. It is not due for completion until 2026.
The link is aimed at improving safety by separating local traffic from the state highway with work starting in 2015 and due for completion in December 2023.
Wellington region
In Wellington, the opening of the $445m Peka Peka to Ōtaki expressway joins up with the newly opened Transmission Gully motorway and the existing Kāpiti expressway to the south, giving holidaymakers much-needed respite from the narrow and heavily congested coastal SH1 road of the past.
The 13km expressway hit a speed bump earlier this year when thousands of tonnes of asphalt had to be ripped up after problematic pockets of air were discovered.
Air voids outside of the design range were found in about 7900 tonnes of asphalt. This problem can damage the asphalt under traffic, leading to early failure of the road.
The four-lane expressway, which started construction in 2017, was meant to open in 2020.
Then it was delayed due to an upgrade of the road’s surface with a new pavement design, as well as the addition of a 10km shared path for cyclists, horse-riders and pedestrians.
The road was rescheduled to open in 2021, but then Covid-19 hit and in June last year Waka Kotahi advised it would be delayed until late 2022.
Next up will be the planned 24km, Ōtaki to the north of Levin expressway, costed at $1.5 billion, which has the green light from the Government.
Additional reporting by Georgina Campbell
Former Act president's lawyer claims sentence was too harsh, calls for home detention.