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SH1 Papakura to Drury

Construction update

2 April 2026



	A site-wide 'toolbox' meeting was held in March at the Papakura Club to reinforce the importance of safety during the "March Madness" period (which typically sees an increase in traffic on the roads) given our works are undertaken beside a live motorway. Construction update \| He pānui Kia ora With autumn settling in, daylight hours are growing shorter and rain is becoming more frequent. Like you, we will be winding our clocks back an hour on Saturday night as daylight saving time ends this Sunday. We hope you and your whānau and friends are able to enjoy a break over the long Easter weekend. Works on the Papakura to Drury (P2D) project have continued to progress well over the past month - read on for progress updates across the project length. Please get in touch if you have any queries about the works shown in this issue or any other aspect of the P2D project - our contact details are shown at the end of this update.



	SH1 south of Drury Interchange Last month we completed initial earthworks between Drury Interchange and the new bridges over the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) railway. This week, we have started to install 'wick' drains (see above) – which are used to accelerate the drainage of water from soft, saturated soils, allowing the ground to consolidate, strengthen, and stabilise more quickly under new loads. South of the NIMT bridges, earthworks will be completed this month, followed by installation of wick drains in this section also. At the same time, we are rebuilding Flanagan Road (see below). Pavement works will continue throughout this month.



	Drury Interchange Building the replacement motorway bridge over Great South Road at Drury Interchange is well underway. Final pile casings will be driven later this month on the northern side of Great South Road. Following this, reinforcing steel will be installed inside the pile casings and concrete poured down them. Later in May, the crane pictured above will be moved over to the southern side of Great South Road and the crew will begin piling the second (and final) set of below ground piles for the new bridge.



	SH22 / Great South Road Last month, we carried out pavement works and built traffic islands in the central median of SH22 / Great South Road on the west side of Drury Interchange. This month, we will continue building traffic islands (see above), installing traffic signal poles and traffic loops (sensors) in the pavement and other finishing works. The new traffic lights at the SH22 / Victoria Street / Mercer Street intersection are expected to be operational in mid-April, weather permitting.



	Bremner Road at Ngaakooroa Stream Last month, we started 'de-watering' (lowering the ground water level) on the western side of Ngaakooroa Stream to enable us to install the permanent piles for the new bridge. We also completed temporary working platforms on both sides of the stream. This month, starting 7 April, we will start piling works on the western side of the stream and then, in May, shift to piling works on the eastern side of the stream. Due to the high voltage power lines directly overhead (see above), our piling works in this area can only be done under a partial shutdown of the lines by Transpower, for a strictly limited duration. Our works will need to run continuously day and night, seven days a week, for five weeks at a time to complete the piles before all power lines are re-energised. These works will not impact the supply of power to Greater Auckland as only one (of four) sets of these overhead high voltage power lines will be shut down at any given time.



	Bremner Road at SH1 Last month, following a traffic shift on SH1 where all motorway traffic was shifted into what used to be the central median, enabling works for the construction of a large diaphragm retaining wall (a 'D-wall') on the southbound side of the motorway began. Retaining walls on the southbound side of the motorway will take around 18 months to build, after which we can rebuild the Bremner Road bridge over SH1. Our main bridge construction works will begin in 2027 and the new bridge is expected to open in late 2028.



	Slippery Creek / Otuuwairoa Stream Last month, we continued installing ground improvements piles on the northeastern side of Slippery Creek beside SH1, where the motorway alignment will move across to. We have also been building up pavement layers on the northeastern side of Slippery Creek. This week, we lifted in five bridge beams that will form the southern span of the deck for the new southbound motorway bridge. Mid this month, the final set of beams will be installed for the northern span of the bridge to complete the full bridge deck. Later in April, we will be installing reinforced steel on the bridge deck (see below), which will take approximately one month to complete.



	Northbound earthworks We are continuing with earthworks on the northbound side of the motorway, south of Park Estate Road overbridge. Later this month, a haul road will be constructed to service the Slippery Creek / Otuuwairoa Stream bridge worksite and team.

During the coming months, our project works include:

Continuing earth works on the northbound side of SH1, south of Park Estate Road bridge
Continuing earthworks either side of Slippery Creek, for road widening and bridge building works
Continuing to build a new southbound motorway bridge over Slippery Creek
Continuing pavement building works on both sides of the motorway between Slippery Creek and Drury Interchange
Continuing to build the new Bremner Road bridge over Ngaakooroa Stream
Beginning construction of a second retaining wall (a D-wall) on the eastern side of the motorway
Continuing earthworks in both southbound triangle gore areas at Drury Interchange
Continuing piling works in the gore between the motorway and the Drury southbound off-ramp
Starting piling works in the gore between the motorway and the Drury southbound on-ramp
Continuing underground service investigations around Drury Interchange, including on the motorway, Great South Road, SH22 and Bremner Road
Continuing construction on the southbound side of the motorway between Drury Interchange and the Quarry Road overbridge.

For further information regarding the project, please contact our team:

We thank you in advance for your patience during these important motorway upgrades.

Kind regards | Ngā mihi
The SH1 Papakura to Drury team