Urgent sewer repair on State Highway 2 in Lower Hutt causes major traffic disruption

• Wellington Water has begun urgent repairs on a major sewer under State Highway 2 in Lower Hutt.
• The $5.2 million project aims to prevent sewage spills into the Hutt River and road collapse.
• Two northbound lanes and one southbound lane will remain open, with reduced speed limits in place.

By Nick James of RNZ

Wellington Water has started urgent work on a major sewer main under State Highway 2 in Lower Hutt, warning there will be significant traffic disruption.

RNZ reported last year that the 60-year-old Western Hills main sewer, which carries all Upper Hutt’s sewage, was at risk in two places.

One of those is under State Highway 2 near Melling Station, where Wellington Water documents said the pipe had a high risk of failure because of corrosion.

It stated that if the pipe failed, it could cause large volumes of sewage to flow into the Hutt River for “extended periods” and trigger the collapse of a section of State Highway 2 that sits above the pipeline.

Work to fix the pipe, which is set to cost $5.2 million, started on Thursday night and is expected to be complete in two weeks.

Speed limits on parts of State Highway 2 in Lower Hutt will be reduced while work to repair a sewer is carried out. Photo / Alex Cairns

During the works, two northbound lanes on State Highway 2 towards Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt will be open and one southbound lane towards Wellington City.

Reduced speed limits will also be in force.

Traffic management will be in place between Melling Link and Kennedy Good Bridge.

Wellington Water said it understood this work can be frustrating.

“We ask the public to please be patient, plan ahead and follow signage and traffic controllers in place while commuting through this section of SH2.”

When RNZ reported on this issue in February, Hutt South MP and Transport Minister Chris Bishop said he could already sense the “palpable frustration” from Hutt Valley residents, Wellingtonians and commuters.

“It reflects the fact our water infrastructure in the Wellington region is in a severely degraded state as I think everybody knows.”

Bishop said NZTA and Wellington Water needed to work together to minimise disruption as much as possible.

“I think the last thing we would want is an exploding pipe under State Highway 2, nobody would like that, so the work has to happen but what we have got to do is make sure it causes as least inconvenience as possible.”

– RNZ