SH1 Loop Road Safety Improvements - Mid-year update

Kia ora,

We wanted to give you an update on the Loop Road Safety Improvements project and in particular, the remaining road surfacing work inside the coned off area north of the roundabout.

Completion works between Lookout Hill and Loop Road

As you know, earlier last year we identified an issue with the surfacing that was laid on the northern end of the Loop Road intersection up to Lookout Hill. The surface that was laid didn’t meet our quality requirements and we have since been working alongside out contractor on a solution to remedy the situation. This is why you will have seen the area coned off, as it’s not ready for traffic to drive over it.

Previously, we indicated we were aiming to complete the permanent seal on the northern end of the site before the middle of this year. Unfortunately, it has taken some time to find the right solution and it’s important that we get this right as this section of the state highway is such a critical part of Northland’s transport network.

This remedial work can’t be completed during the wet winter months and requires warm, dry weather. For this reason, it will need to wait until our next spring/summer construction season, later this year.

Water does to roads what sugar does to your teeth – it causes our road surfaces to decay and potholes to form. When water penetrates the road surface through cracks, tyre action and weather can quickly turn these cracks into potholes.

That’s why it’s imperative we have good weather conditions when laying the permanent seal – to put it bluntly, we want to do it once and do it right.

We will be working with our contractors closely next construction season to ensure this work is completed as a priority and to the required standard.

We do appreciate the tolerance we get from locals and people who travel through the area that have dealt with delays here for some time, but we also know people want – and deserve – a safe, fit-for-purpose road. We are 100 per cent committed to ensuring this is what’s delivered.

Temporary seal to improve road surface before remedial work later this year

A temporary seal will be laid to ensure the safety of the road until the permanent repair work can be undertaken during the warmer, drier spring and summer months.

This work is currently underway and will take a few days to complete.

Please be considerate of our crews as you drive through the site and maintain the temporary speed limit.

We will continue to monitor the road over winter and ensure any issues with the temporary seal are quickly resolved.

Stage two: increasing the roundabout to two lanes

When construction of the new roundabout commenced in March 2019, our contractors were tasked with delivering a single-lane roundabout, plus additional earthworks, foundations and culverts, to ensure the roundabout could be increased to two lanes in the future.

Towards the end of 2019, Waka Kotahi approved additional funding to bring forward the construction of the larger dual-lane roundabout.

Increasing the Loop Road roundabout to two lanes means an additional southbound lane is required on SH1 as well as a new bridge to accommodate the additional lane. The new bridge and lane will ensure southbound traffic exiting the roundabout have a safe distance to merge back into a single lane before Portland Road.

The new bridge will be constructed to the east of the existing bridge, which will be kept for northbound traffic only. The new bridge will be constructed to our current design standards which mean it will be approximately 1.8 metres higher than the existing bridge on SH1.

The higher bridge structure means right turns into, or out of, Oaks Road will not be possible. Northbound and southbound lanes will be separated by a centre wire-rope barrier. We have constructed a safe turning area on Portland Road for Oaks Road and SH1 residents to make right turns.

Construction of stage two will begin later this year with work to strengthen the ground where the road will be constructed. This process, called ‘preloading’, works by slowly compressing the ground surface to create a stronger foundation for holding the road and vehicles. This process can take up to six-months.

While construction for stage two may not be completed until 2025, we expect minimal disruption to state highway traffic than stage one as the majority of work will be completed beside the road, off the state highway.

It will only be the taper lane ‘tie-ins’ at the roundabout and south of Otaika Stream that will require traffic management, and this won’t be programmed until later in construction.

We’re in the process of firming up the project timeline and will have more detail to share in the coming months.

More information

For more information on the SH1 Loop Road improvements, contact us at northlandproject@nzta.govt.nz

Visit our website www.nzta.govt.nz/loop-road