Waikato roadworks: Water upgrades and road rebuilding taking place in Hamilton

Hamilton City Council contractors will be working on wastewater upgrades, water renewals, road resurfacing and rebuilding of roads around the city until February. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Hamiltonians who are no longer holidaying at the beach and are instead back to work, may until February find themselves stuck in road closures in the city.

Hamilton City Council’s construction contractors will be working on wastewater upgrades, water renewals, and road resurfacing and rebuilding.

At least 28km of roads will be resealed, six roads rebuilt, and upgrades and renewals done to 2.95km of water pipes and 2km of wastewater pipes throughout the city.

A water renewal project began yesterday to install new wastewater connections in Heaphy Tce, and to construct a new wastewater line along Boundary Rd that’s part of the Ranfurly Gully wastewater upgrade project.

At the same time, contractors began replacing water mains along the same section of Heaphy Tce.

These works mean the closure of a short stretch of Heaphy Tce until early February, along with lane closures in Boundary Rd.

Council three waters unit director Maire Porter said two projects taking place at the same time “minimises road impact in the long term”.

“We try to keep disruption to our city residents to a minimum – over summer, schools are closed, some residents are enjoying time out of the city and the weather is nice and dry, meaning our work can get done more quickly.”

A section of Hukanui Rd from Elmira Ave to the Clarkin Rd roundabout is also being rebuilt this month and will take place in two stages with a mix of lane and road closures.

Until February, residents can travel through the area in both directions, but from early February, a short section will be closed at night and fully open during daytime.

Meanwhile, council teams are also ensuring residents’ water supply continues flowing and toilets keep flushing.

Council’s operate and maintain unit director, Tania Hermann, said summer was the ideal time of year for this work to be done and it tried to do the bulk of roadworks in January and February.

“We understand that roadworks can have a big impact on those residents in the city over the holidays,” Hermann said.

She encouraged motorists to check out the page on the council website titled Week on our streets where all the roadworks and their impacts could be viewed.

“This page is updated weekly with information about what’s coming up and we encourage Hamiltonians to check it before planning their weekly commute.”

Roading repairs and maintenance are carried out by Connect Hamilton in a partnership between the council and Downer NZ.

The construction season is budgeted to cost about $15 million, with 51% funded by NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.

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