Express CONNECT

31 May 2023

A key achievement this month was the highly anticipated opening of the remainder of the shared path. It’s generated a lot of interest since its opening which has been exciting to see. Thank you to everyone who’s been in touch with our team with feedback about your experience as users of the path. If you’re interested in facts and figures like I am then read below to find out what the daily user counts have been on the shared path over the first two weeks since opening.

Without wanting to sound like a broken record, given this will be the last of the Express Connect newsletters, I want to take this opportunity to thank road users and the local community once again for all the support, interesting perspectives, feedback received (both positive and not so positive), participation at meetings, and patience over the years while we’ve designed and built the expressway and it’s supporting infrastructure.

Although we’re coming to the end of the construction phase of the project, just a reminder that there will still be works happening in localised areas across the project length. Over the next few months, we’ll be relocating Clifden Cottage to it’s final destination south of the Ōtaki River, completing the last of the planting across the project, and completing the last of the works around private properties impacted by the project. As mentioned last month, Community Liaison Group meetings will continue for the remainder of 2023 for invited members, and our 0800 number and email will remain active until the end of 2023 to ensure you continue to have open channels to communicate with our team if required.

For further information on the project please visit our information centre (which has updated photos and brochures), check out our website www.nzta.govt.nz/pp2o, call us on 0800 PP2O INFO or email pp2o@nzta.govt.nz

Ngā mihi
Steve Findlay, Project Director

Looking south from Taylors Road to the Ōtaki River

Construction update

North of the Ōtaki River

• Completion of final pavement works at the northern end of the project
• Completion of works at the Pare-o-Matangi Reserve.
• Completion of fencing around Ōtaki Main Road North.
• Installation of crossing islands and tactile pavers.

South of the Ōtaki River

• Preparation for the upcoming relocation of Clifden Cottage.
• Miscellaneous items along the shared path following it’s opening such as installing additional signage.
• Final sealing and line marking of the Local Arterial Road (old section of State Highway between Te Kowhai Road and Makahuri / Mary Crest).

Looking south from the Ōtaki River to Te Horo

Looking south from Te Hapua Road with the Local Arterial Road located alongside the expressway.

The shared path is open!

It’s still early days since opening the shared path but the good weather last weekend certainly drew people onto the new path. The below graph shows the total daily counts (all modes) on the path near to Ōtaki Gorge Road, demonstrating that on Sunday 28th May the path was used almost 400 times with a relatively even split northbound and southbound. This equates to around 200 people making the return trip with many travelling all the way to Peka Peka.

Landscape and ecological mitigation planting

At the end of a roading project it’s easy to focus solely on the benefits of driving on the new section of road, ignoring some of the other great achievements. A key outcome on PP2Ō is the vast extent of new planting across the project. By the end of this upcoming planting season, more than 730,000 new plants will have been planted.  This includes:

• 2ha of native bush planting,
• 3km of stream planting,
• 1.6ha of wetland planting,
• 50ha of landscape treatment planting.

Ongoing monitoring and maintenance of the new planted areas will be a focus over the next five years. This is to make sure the required canopy cover is sufficient to stop weed growth. A team of ecologists, landscape architects, and landscape contractors will be out and about inspecting and maintaining our newly planted areas over the coming years.

Information Centre remains open through to 2024

The information centre is located at 216 Main Highway, Ōtaki (open 9-5pm Monday-Friday, Saturday 9am-4pm and Sunday 10am-4pm). 

The centre has brochures available - these include a map of the whole expressway. The map can also be viewed/downloaded as a larger image here: PP2Ō Expressway map.

Community meeting

Our next Community Liaison Group meeting is on Monday 12 June, 7pm, at Ōtaki College (members only).

The final word…

This marks the end of the monthly ‘Express Connect’ newsletter for PP2Ō. Thank you for taking the time to read about the project and provide feedback. The project 0800 number and email will remain active until the end of 2023 if you need any further information relating to the project.

More information

For more information on the Peka Peka to Ōtaki Expressway, contact us at 0800 7726 4636 or email pp2o@nzta.govt.nz

Visit our website www.nzta.govt.nz/pp2o