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November 2020

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Construction moves into busy summer season

There’s bustling activity going on from the Haywards Interchange to Mt Cecil Rd (Stage 1) on State Highway 58, as things ramp-up for summer construction.

Senior Project Manager Damien Wilkinson says the construction team has completed extensive earthworks, slope stabilisation and drainage work this year despite the Covid-19 shutdown.

“Effective planning and 3D modelling let us safely excavate a substantial amount of material on a very steep cut while keeping the traffic moving along the highway underneath.

“The project is on track. It’s great to see that over winter the team made up for lost time during Covid-19 disruptions.”

Summer works will see road surfacing work underway.

“Over the next four months the team will continue to lay asphalt, which will total 20,000 tonnes when completed. This means that the temporary layout for the road changes frequently, there is a 30km/hr speed limit in place and our crew is working very close to the traffic flow. We ask road users to take care when driving through the area to keep everyone safe,” says Damien.

There will also be regular traffic switches to help enable the construction work. Please look out for the signs and follow directions from our on-site crews.

Installation of the side barriers and median wire rope barriers will progress as the asphalt is completed, the majority of the barriers will be installed early next year. This first stage of the project is expected to be completed in 2021.

Below - work on SH58 is on track with a busy summer season ahead.

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Wellington Urban Journey Manager Neil Beckett

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Balancing customer needs with network activity

For any work happening on the state highway and wider network, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency must consider the impacts on road users. The interconnected nature of the system means there are flow-on effects for those travelling the network.

Wellington Urban Journey Manager Neil Beckett is responsible for encouraging teams to cast a customer lens over their work for opportunities to improve journeys for road users. This is done gaining insights from key stakeholders and customer groups and network performance data.

“I get involved throughout the life cycle of projects and try to prevent or limit disruptions to customers from planned activities.

“It’s essential to think about the needs of road users and communities early in the project design stage, so that we can prevent any problems occurring further down the line, when construction is underway.

“For work we’re doing on SH58 we consider the whole Wellington network and users and their modes of travel. This includes assessing the impacts from other construction work, such as Transmission Gully and Peka to Otaki, highway maintenance, and big regional events like music festivals and major sport fixtures.

"It’s also important to see what’s happening in the Manawatu and Wairarapa and consider the impact on longer journeys. We look at the time of year and whether the activity can be done at night or during off-peak hours,” says Neil.

He points out that SH58, as a key east-west connection between the Hutt Valley and Porirua/Kapiti, presents other complexities that have to be factored into construction activity. It has weekday morning and evening peak traffic flows in both directions.

Neil works closely with many teams, including Waka Kotahi’s Wellington Traffic Operations Centre that monitors traffic in real time across the region.

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More information

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For more information on the SH58 improvements project, contact us at sh58safety@nzta.govt.nz

Visit our website www.nzta.govt.nz/sh58-improvements

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