Kia ora

The holidays are starting to seem like a distant memory now, but I hope you managed to get some down time during the Christmas/New Year break.

Since the last newsletter was sent out, the focus has been on surveys and site investigations – two were carried out in November and we’ll be doing more in February. Information gathered from these are helping us develop our detailed designs for road/safety improvements.

Take care and stay safe.

Ngā mihi,
Grace Huang,
Project Manager, Waka Kotahi

Detailed design

Last November, we undertook two surveys – which have provided us with details to inform the design of road improvements along the corridor – as follows.

• Road surface survey: taking high resolution images from Marycrest to Taylors Road to give us information about the surface of the road and location of features like kerbs, fences and footpaths.

• Pavement survey: capturing images of below-ground road layers using an ultra-wide band ground-penetrating radar which is towed behind a vehicle.

Upcoming works

In February, we’ll get onto the following site investigations.

• Geotechnical ground investigations on the western side of the Mangaone culvert on old State Highway 1: These will involve taking soil samples to determine the design of a shared path extension that will span this culvert and provide a continuous walking/cycling connection from the south to Te Horo Beach Road. This work will be undertaken with a minor road shoulder closure, but both traffic lanes will remain open (although they’ll be slightly shifted sideways and narrowed past the worksite). The temporary reduced speed limit of 50km/h, already in place in the area for expressway works, will remain.

• Drilling of small core sample holes at various locations between Riverbank Road and Waitohu Valley Road: These will help us determine the depth of the asphalt and other paving layers of those roads. The holes will be filled in once the samples are obtained.  This work will require us to close off a few parking spaces or divert traffic lanes with stop/go traffic management in place.

• Site utility surveys: These will involve taking underground scans between Riverbank Road and Waitohu Valley Road to inform us:
- where utilities like power cables, water pipes and internet cables exist under the road surface
- what utilities could be impacted by our works
- whether utilities need to be relocated or not.

This work will be undertaken with mobile traffic management supervision (i.e. traffic management vehicles travelling along the corridor continuously at slow speeds to ensure vehicles travel at that speed).

• Small excavations within the road: These will take place if we need to learn more about the exact location of underground utilities. Small holes are made in the road, then utilities are scanned and measured with the holes filled in after this. The work will require us to close off a few parking spaces or divert traffic lanes with stop/go traffic management in place.

Detailed design

As you know from our last update, the detailed design phase is underway but cannot progress further until the surveys and site investigations, as described above, are complete and the information analysed.

Road surface maintenance

Road re-surfacing is planned for the section of old State Highway 1 between Ōtaki Gorge Road and just south of Te Horo Beach Road, sometime in February.  New line-markings will also be applied to that section of road to remove the northbound passing lane north of Te Horo Beach Road. This work is still to be confirmed – if it’s deferred, the work will take place in summer 2024.

Road maintenance work is carried out by the Wellington Transport Alliance (the partnership between Waka Kotahi, Fulton Hogan and WSP).

Speed limits

As part of the Road to Zero programme, Waka Kotahi undertook consultation on new speed limits on State Highway 1 (SH1) as part of a nationwide Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan (ISMP). This plan is being developed under the ‘Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits 2022’. Managing speeds through the ISMP is part of delivering Road to Zero which aims to achieve zero deaths and serious injuries from crashes on New Zealand roads.

The ISMP includes setting appropriate speed limits for the Peka Peka to Ōtaki section of the Kāpiti Expressway and its on/off ramps ahead of the new road opening, as well as sections of the current SH1 between Peka Peka and Ōtaki. It also includes targeted speed limit changes on other state highways in the region.

Find out more about these changes and the consultation process at www.nzta.govt.nz/ISMP. 

More information

For more information on the SH1 Peka Peka to Ōtaki revocation project, contact us at PP2Orevocation@nzta.govt.nz

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