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The safety improvements under way south of Ātiamuri have seen the road widened ahead of central and side flexible safety barriers being installed.
Piarere to Taupō safety works rolling on
There are several sites identified for safety improvements along 93km of State Highway 1 between Piarere and Taupō.
These works, which are part of Waka Kotahi’s Road to Zero 2020-2930 road safety strategy, include road widening and installing flexible central and side safety barriers.
These upgrades will mean the road is more forgiving if someone makes a mistake, with crashes less likely to result in death or serious injury.
The SH1 Piarere to Taupō safety works started last year near Ātiamuri, where central and side safety barriers are now being installed for 4.5km of highway from north of Maroa Road to Tram Road. This work is scheduled to be completed in June.
The current worksite south of Ātiamuri has required stop-go traffic management in recent times and we thank people for their patience. This was unexpected and caused by a pavement issue which could not be rectified with traffic on it. While now back to two-way traffic flows, there will be some more stop/go ahead as the safety barriers are installed starting later this week.
We are now looking ahead to starting work on a nearby 6.9km section of SH1 from the Waikato River bridge to Thorpe Road. Again the safety improvements include central and side barriers and work is expected to start in June and take 7-9 months.
The third and fourth sections we are prioritising for safety improvements are between Piarere and Tirau. We plan to start the detailed design for improvements along a 5.5km section of SH1 from near the SH29 intersection to Puketirau Road, and a 4.2km section from Puketirau Road to SH1/27 intersection at Tirau.
The timing of construction for these two sections is subject to detailed design completion, negotiations for any land purchase required, and construction funding being confirmed. We will take into account the different access needs for properties, and plan for residents, local business, truck and agricultural vehicle movements.
To establish what these needs are, we will be speaking with directly affected property owners to outline our concept plans and discuss how these will affect them. These discussions will form part of the information needed for us to confirm the designs and apply for the required consenting.
We will be sharing information with the community as it becomes available.
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