A good crowd enjoyed the Hamilton section's public info day in early March, with many taking the bus tour along part of the new road.

April 2018

Construction of the final three sections of the 102km four-lane Waikato Expressway has gone well over summer with progress clearly visible at Longswamp, Huntly and Hamilton worksites.
Earthmoving operations require dry weather and while the summer and autumn rains have presented some challenges, the weather has been far better than the previous summer season.
That has enabled the Longswamp team to press on and open local road connections recently. They are also on track to shift traffic on to sections of the completed south-bound lanes mid-year, making way for construction of the north-bound lanes.
The Huntly team are also planning a traffic switch in May, putting all traffic passing the Northern Interchange on to what will be the north-bound on-ramp from Huntly. This will make room for the work on the bridge spanning the Huntly off-ramp and main trunk railway line.
At Hamilton works have been going on end to end, with completed bridges keeping the dump trucks and other construction vehicles away from local traffic. The exceptions are at Greenhill Road and Puketaha Road where we have stop/go control in place.
The remaining project section timeframes are:
• 5.9km Longswamp section 2016-2019
• 15.2km Huntly section 2015-2020
• 22km Hamilton section 2016-2020

For more project information – photos, videos, news – go to www.nzta.govt.nz/waikatoexpressway where you can also sign up for emailed updates. Each section has its own website. Or like us on Facebook to get progress news and posts most days.

Longswamp works alongside SH1 and also showing the extended Rodda Road and in the distance Whangamarino Road which has been extended down to Paddy Road.

Longswamp

In contrast to the “greenfields” projects at Huntly and Hamilton, the Longswamp section – between the Te Kauwhata and Hampton Downs interchanges – involves widening the existing SH1. 
To keep local people connected and able to access both north and south interchanges, Rodda Road has been extended south to the Te Kauwhata interchange, and Whangamarino Road has been extended through to Paddy Road. The Paddy Road bridge will link east and west at that central point when it opens later this year.
Meanwhile, Whangamarino Road south-bound access to SH1 is via either Paddy Road or the Hampton Downs overbridge.  The no right-turn on to SH1 from Paddy Rd or into Paddy Rd from SH1 remains in place.
North-bound access to Whangamarino Rd and Paddy Rd will remain from the Hampton Downs overbridge.
Rodda Road extension opened earlier this year.  That means no more left-in, left-out detours for traffic using Hall Road though to Plantation Road. So access to Rodda Rd or Hall Road is via the Te Kauwhata off-ramp.
A big thanks to people’s continued patience and co-operation on this project. We know local people have been looking forward to the extensions opening.
This 5.9km section remains a construction zone until completion so take care and follow the 70km/h speed limit. The reduced speed limit is for the safety of all road users and the construction crews working nearby.

Read the March project update here
The Longswamp website is www.nzta.govt.nz/longswamp

Part of the symbolic reinterpretation of the Rangiriri Paa which has been created at Rangiriri.

Rangiriri

Our work at Rangiriri is substantially complete. Traffic has been on the new road at 100km/h since Easter 2017, and the opening event was held in December.
We produced our final Project Update recently: A chance for us to say thanks to all the people who live, work or travel through the area.
You have all been very patient and supportive since construction began in 2013.
The final wrap looks back over the project, and also the collaboration between Crown and iwi which has seen a special place in NZ history developed.
Local people will see the second coat of chipseal going down on local roads over the final two weeks of April. This will all be done under lane closures with stop/go.

Read the final project update here
For an quick video of the completed paa site click here
Find out more about the Rangiriri project here

Looking south to the summit of the Taupiri Range.

Huntly

Good progress can be seen all along the Huntly route as milestones get ticked off. Work started in 2015 and the joint-venture team are past the halfway stage as they head to an early 2020 finish.
This is the final season of earthworks and pavement work is under way in some places.
The team have moved 1 million cubic metres of material this earthworks season, leaving just 400,000 to go.  They expect get 6-8km of rock down on the alignment before winter.
All nine bridges are at various stages of construction– the Ralph Road overbridge opened to local traffic in February.  This is the first bridge open to general traffic and means construction vehicles can haul material north and south without disrupting local traffic.
Another milestone approaching is the May traffic switch at the Northern Interchange when all traffic will move to the new on-ramp. Currently traffic is using what will be the Huntly off-ramp and we need to make the switch to create room to work on the four-lane bridge.
Work is now under way at the southern end where the project meets the Ngaruawahia section at the Gordonton Road Interchange. We have closed the south-bound free-flow lane as we need to build on and off-ramps at the interchange. So traffic from Taupiri accessing the expressway needs to use the roundabouts and on-ramp. 
Meanwhile there’s still plenty to do at the Taupiri Pass where a 57-metre cutting is needed at the summit of the route. There are only a few more metres of blasting and digging required to get to road level. The March project update includes a feature on the Taupiri cutting, along with progress photos. Read that here
You can see the latest timelapse and earlier ones showing progress at the summit under the videos tab on the website www.nzta.govt.nz/huntly
You can also watch the latest video flyover and project video showing recent advances right along the route. The project team made an interesting find recently. Read about that and the success of our protocols here
We have begun planning for our first public information day on the site. It will be Saturday 27 October and we expect to be able to bus people along the northern section of the alignment. More details closer to the date.

The gullies between Matangi Road (in the distance) and SH1 at Tamahere need to be bridged to carry the expressway.

Hamilton

The CityEdge Alliance team are now well into their second year of construction and progress can be seen from every vantage point along the 22km route.
With some of the 17 bridges completed they have been able to haul a lot more earth and sand as they play catch-up after a wet earthmoving season in 2016/17.
Moving from north to south, here’s a construction update:
Lake Road works: Te Rapa off-ramp construction continues. Hauling sand from Simpson’s Borrow pit.
Osborne Road bridge: One lane now open, pavement tie-ins complete. Excavations are complete under the bridge to allow construction traffic to flow freely underneath.
Resolution Interchange: Embankment earthworks continue. Earthworks have begun for the Resolution Drive Extension which will connect Borman Road to the interchange.
Kay Road bridge: Construction continues. Preparing back walls and deck. Plan to open mid-year.
Gordonton Road to Puketaha Road: Excavation under the bridge continues.  Preparations to open haul road crossing on Puketaha Road.
Greenhill Interchange bridge: Mechanically stabilised earth wall construction of bridge abutments is under way.
Rail Bridge (Ruakura/Ryburn Road): Dumptrucks are using this bridge to haul construction sand north. Topsoiling under way on embankments.
Morrinsville Road bridge: Haul road now extends under the bridge towards Matangi Road. Low noise asphalt now on the bridge.
Matangi Road bridge: Pavement tie-ins are under construction. Traffic lights control a one-way section on the diversion.
Mangaone/Mangaharakeke bridges: Ground improvements and embankment soil nailing continue in preparation for bridge and embankment construction.
Southern Interchange: The 16m high retaining wall is now substantially complete. The East West Link bridge backwalls are under construction and preparing to install a culvert in the East West gully. Cambridge Road on-ramp bridge construction is about to begin. A new tab has been created on the Hamilton website for Southern Interchange news. You can view that here
Meanwhile reconstruction at Ruakura Road continues, with traffic reduced to one-way between SH26-Morrinsville Road and the Vaile Road/Davison Road intersection.
We expect to reopen Ruakura Road to two-way traffic by the end of April, on an unsealed surface. Completion of the final pavement layers, kerb and channel, footpath construction, drainage and sealing will take longer, and this will require stop/go traffic controls from time to time. Where possible, we will try to avoid using stop/go controls during peak traffic hours.
In tandem with this work a roundabout is taking shape at the Ruakura Road/Morrinsville Road intersection to improve safety.

About 2500 people attended the Hamilton section public open day on Saturday 3 March. We hope you enjoyed it and thanks for the great feedback. Special thanks to more than 90 staff from the CityEdge Alliance who volunteered their time – from bus tour guides to running the barbecue, and building and hosting the exhibits.
If you missed the open day you can pop into the visitor centre at the site office, Ryburn Road, signposted off Ruakura Road. It’s open 9am-3pm weekdays and on the first Saturday morning of the month, 9am-12 noon.

There are a lot of resources on the website www.nzta.govt.nz/hamilton including the latest project video

More information

For more information on the Waikato Expressway, contact us at waikatoexpressway@nzta.govt.nz

Visit our website www.nzta.govt.nz/waikato-expressway