SH2 Wairarapa highway improvements

21 October 2022

October 2022 update

Welcome to our 5th update on the SH2 Masterton to Carterton Safety Improvement Project. If you know anyone who might be interested in these updates, they can sign up on this webpage here.

Our teams laying ducts in trenches – these will house the high voltage powerlines which are currently still running overhead.

Most night works completed

To date, daytime travelers might not have noticed much happening as most of the works have been done during the night, due to the requirement for stop/go traffic management, and the disruption it causes to traffic.

Trenching across SH2 at Norfolk Road intersection and laying ducts for the relocation of power cables have now been completed.

We’ve now completed most of the temporary widenings between Norfolk Road and Wiltons Road. This work has also been done during the night to minimise our impact on daytime traffic. You’ll see the crews applying finishing touches in these areas over the next few weeks.

Grading the surface after the base course material has been placed.

Record-breaking rainfall in late winter was no match for our teams as they finish up the drainage systems at Wiltons Road

Daytime activity increasing

After many long and hard nights out in the cold, most of our construction teams are now back on daytime hours, so you’ll see a lot more activity as you pass through the site during the day.

The construction of the drainage systems at Wiltons Road are now in their final stages and physical construction of the Wiltons roundabout will start once  the drainage systems are complete.

At the Southern Turnaround facility, south of Wiltons Road, the drainage systems and soakage pit installations are currently underway, after which physical construction of the facility will commence.

Service relocations will be ongoing from Norfolk Road to Wiltons Road and undergrounding of the overhead power cables at Norfolk Road intersection has started.

A drainage manhole is being lowered into place at Wiltons Road.

The access track is put in place for works at the Southern Turnaround facility.

Barriers to come

This month, (weather permitting) new road layouts and lane changes are being implemented on sections of SH2 between Norfolk Road and Wiltons Road.

The most noticeable change to the current road layout will be the placement of temporary concrete barriers to separate the active worksites from the driving lanes. Driving lanes will be re-aligned and traffic re-directed onto the temporary widened sections.

Behind these barriers, we’ll be ensuring all services are in the right places, before moving on to permanent road widening works.

Traffic management will stay in place for the duration of the project, and sections of the road around our crews will have further temporary speed restrictions to 50km/h & 70km/h as required to ensure the safety of our staff and road users.

More information

Once again, we would like to thank everyone using SH2 for your patience, care and understanding while driving past our work sites.
 
If you own a property along SH2 between Masterton and Carterton that is tenanted or leased out, please forward this newsletter on to your tenants, or request them to sign up for updates on this webpage here. 

If you have any questions, comments or feedback, the project team is always keen to hear from you. Feel free to get in touch by phone on 0800 353 824 or email us at SH2Wairarapa@nzta.govt.nz.