Workers are building a roundabout to replace the T-junction where State Highway 5 meets State Highway 28 at Harwoods Rd between Rotorua and Tīrau. Photo / NZ Transport Agency
Workers are building a roundabout to replace the T-junction where State Highway 5 meets State Highway 28 at Harwoods Rd between Rotorua and Tīrau. Photo / NZ Transport Agency
Work to build a roundabout at a dangerous intersection between Rotorua and Tīrau has begun.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) said the junction of State Highway 5 and State Highway 28 at Harwoods Rd had a poor safety record, with one death and 17 serious crashes in the pastdecade.
Work on a three-leg roundabout started on Monday as part of the SH5 Tīrau to Tārukenga safety improvement project.
NZTA described the road as an “important route for locals and tourists, freight and agricultural vehicles travelling in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty, and for those travelling further afield”.
Between 2011 and 2021, 16 people died and 58 were seriously injured on this stretch of highway.
The agency’s regional manager of infrastructure delivery, Darryl Coalter, said the roundabout was one of several safety improvements planned between Tīrau and Tārukenga Marae Rd.
The safety improvements planned by NZTA between Rotorua and Tīrau.
“A right-turn bay was built at Waimakariri Rd earlier this year, while funding has been allocated to complete design for a roundabout at SH5/SH28-Whites Rd.
“NZTA is also undertaking general widening works between Whites and Harwoods Rds to allow for wide centrelines.
“The first section between Whites and Waimakariri Rds will be done this spring.”
The agency’s spring and early summer maintenance programme would also see a rebuild of 400m of Whites Rd from south of the SH5 intersection.
No changes are proposed for the road through Tūkorehe Reserve/Fitzgerald Glade.
Schick Construction was awarded the physical works contract for the SH5/SH28-Harwoods Rd roundabout and will monitor and manage traffic through the site during the construction period.
The project was estimated to cost about $5.1m, and traffic was expected to be flowing on the roundabout by March next year, NZTA said.
SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru
Meanwhile, the SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru maintenance project will begin its second construction season on September 1.
NZTA said that, by early next year, contractors would have rebuilt more than 66km, or 27 per cent, of SH1 between Tīrau and Waiouru.
This coming season will see the completion of road surfacing on five sections, including the Desert Road.
Road rebuilds and maintenance will also be completed between Taupō and Tūrangi and on the edges of Tokoroa and Tīrau townships.
Some short nighttime-only closures will be needed at Tīrau, between Tokoroa and Ātiamuri and on the Desert Road.
There would be no full road closures between Taupō and Tūrangi.
NZTA said it was also delivering its usual summer maintenance programme across Waikato and Bay of Plenty, including 15 road rebuild sites and 20 resurfacing sites from the Coromandel Peninsula to Waiouru.
It said summer was always the busiest season for roadworks as weather and ground temperatures were critical to delivering long-lasting results.
