Road repairs between Cambridge and Te Awamutu to start next week

Work will start on repairing Cambridge Rd across peat land next week. Sinking and cracking has resulted in a reduced speed limit of 80km/h for the past five months. Photo / Dean Taylor

Road works will begin early next week on the main road between Cambridge and Te Awamutu.

Waipā District Council's maintenance contractor Higgins will be undertaking repairs to Cambridge Rd. Work will involve ripping the existing road pavement, followed by placement and compaction of new pavement material and finally a new seal.

The works are expected to take two to three weeks to complete, depending on the weather.

Repairs will be concentrated for around 2km in the westbound lane from Storey Rd, along the straight, to the bottom of the hill.

The westbound lane will be completely closed while the works are undertaken.

Stop/go traffic management will be in place for the eastbound lane to enable traffic movement in both directions.

Council's operations team leader - transportation Jennifer Braithwaite said the repairs would fix the sinking and cracking of the road.

"This is, unfortunately, an ongoing issue with peat roads in Waipā. Our peat soils tend to dry and shrink after dry summers and that creates an uneven road surface."

The poor road surface has seen the Cambridge Rd speed limit reduced to 80km/h for the last five months.

Once the road has been repaired, the speed limit will return to 100km/h.

"We know this is a busy road and the repairs may be inconvenient for people in the short term. But our contractor has a road construction crew available to start so we grabbed the opportunity to bring the works forward," Jennifer said.

"We thank people in advance for the patience and hope the weather allows us to complete the works without too much delay."