SH1B Telephone Road intersection reopens, rail crossing stays closed until July

The section of railway line that was dislodged in April 2022 at the level crossing.

State Highway 1B Telephone Road will reopen on Wednesday, as the final surfacing works for the safety upgrade have been completed.

This means motorists will be able to use the Holland Rd/Marshmeadow Rd intersection again. However, the rail crossing on Telephone Rd itself remains closed until late July.

New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said this was so KiwiRail could complete signalling work at the crossing.

To prevent vehicles from using the rail crossing, shipping containers will be installed across the road and remain in place until the work is complete.

NZTA’s regional manager of maintenance and operations, Roger Brady, said that while the work is under way, pedestrian access across the rail crossing will also no longer be possible.

“[This includes] the Puketaha School students who have been able to walk across twice a day,” Brady said.

“We appreciate this has been a disruptive period and ask the Puketaha community to bear with us for just a couple more months until the crossing can fully reopen.”

Puketaha School and the Ministry of Education, who manage the school bus routes, have been notified.

Alongside raising the road level to lower the risk of vehicles damaging the rail tracks, NZTA also added escape lanes to ensure vehicles do not get stuck on the crossing at busy times.

“As we hit the home stretch for the roading component of this project, we’d like to once more thank the community for your patience while SH1B Telephone Road remains closed at the rail crossing.”

Temporary traffic management would be in place until July showing the SH1B detour around Holland Rd, Waverley Rd and Seddon Rd.

This is the same detour that was in place from when the crossing first closed until the start of the upgrade project in February this year.

The road was closed in April 2022 after repeated instances of low vehicles damaging the railway tracks at the level crossing. Damaged tracks could cause a derailment.

At the time, NZTA said no funding was available for a safe solution until 2024, with a fix estimated to cost between $8 million and $11m.

In November last year, KiwiRail and NZTA came to an agreement on a package of improvements to enable the road and rail crossing to function safely.