Te Ara Tūtohu: Waitara to Bell Block

14 June 2022

Princess Street intersection

Kia ora

We have almost completed installation of the 760m stormwater pipe along SH3 from Manukorihi soccer fields to Princess Street. A New Plymouth District Council watermain pipe has also been installed in the same trench to avoid disrupting traffic in the future to carry out this work.

Despite resourcing challenges resulting from Covid-19 and some severe weather events in the region, crews have worked hard to complete this work on schedule.

The detour through Waitara for northbound traffic, which has enabled this work to be undertaken, has been operating well and we appreciate everyone’s cooperation while it has been in place.

We are making good progress on the Princess Street roundabout and underpass. With the recent demolition of the house on the corner of Princess Street and SH3, it’s easy to envision where the new roundabout and underpass will go when construction gets started next summer.

Design work for the roundabout at Waitara Road is also well underway putting us in a good position to start construction of this roundabout in late 2023, if consenting and property negotiations allow.

Stormwater works underway

Extension of detour through Waitara to enable stage 2 of stormwater works to be completed

We’ve been working with our project partners Manukorihi, Ngāti Rahiri, Otaraua, Pukerangiora, Puketapu Hapū and Te Kotahitanga o Te Atiawa and New Plymouth District Council on the design and location for the stormwater outfall. Treated stormwater will be discharged into the Waitara Awa (River) near the border of the Manukorihi soccer fields adjacent to State Highway 3.

To minimise future disruptions to traffic and keep the project on track, we plan to start installing additional stormwater pipe to the discharge location immediately after we’ve completed the first part of the job. The work will take approximately three months to complete.

A stormwater treatment swale will be built on the eastern border of the soccer fields at a later date, subject to consents being obtained.  This swale will capture and treat stormwater runoff from the new roundabout before it is safely discharged into the awa.

As our crews will be working on the highway to install the additional pipe, the current traffic management will need to remain in place for another three months. This is to ensure the safety of motorists and our crews.

Northbound light vehicles including cars, vans and utes will continue to detour through Waitara, adding 6-10 minutes to the journey north. All vehicles traveling south will use the state highway under Stop/Go traffic management, adding about six minutes to journeys.

Northbound freight will continue to use the state highway under Stop/Go traffic management to avoid safety issues associated with large vehicles travelling through Waitara.

Safety measures on the detour route will remain in place to help keep the community safe and Waka Kotahi will continue to monitor how the detour is operating and make improvements to traffic management if necessary.

We acknowledge that this is disruptive for some residents and road users, and we appreciate everyone’s continued cooperation and patience while we complete this important work.

Trial Embankment

Work to build a trial embankment on New Plymouth District Council-owned property on the corner of Airport Drive and State Highway 3 will get underway soon. This work was originally scheduled to start at the end of May but has been delayed due to resourcing constraints.

This work involves placing 3000 cubic metres of rock material onto the site. The project team will test how the ground responds to the weight over a number of months to inform the design of the roundabout planned for the intersection of De Havilland Drive and SH3.

The trial embankment will take approximately four weeks to construct with crews onsite between 7am-6pm most week days. There will be signage and traffic cones in place near the Airport Drive accessway to ensure the safety of all road users. 

More information

For more information on Te Ara Tūtohu: Waitara to Bell Block, contact us at w2bb@nzta.govt.nz

Visit our website www.nzta.govt.nz/w2bb