SH2 Wainui Road to Ōpōtiki Christmas Update

Kia Ora,

With Christmas fast approaching, we are now wrapping up construction for the year on State Highway 2 (SH2) Wainui Road to Ōpōtiki.

Traffic volumes are likely to increase as people head away for the holidays, so we ask that if you are on the road this Christmas, please drive carefully and stick to the speed limit. This will help to ensure everyone makes it to where they are going safely.

We wish you a safe holiday and look forward to bringing you more updates in 2022.

Construction update

Work between Wainui Road and Ōhiwa Beach Road is almost complete.

The last remaining site at Kutarere hill will have both lanes fully open to traffic from Monday 20 December, with a reduced temporary speed limit in place until final planned road repairs are completed in early-2022.

We will be back on site from mid-January, when we will start preparations for Waiotahe Valley Back Road to Appleton Road (Section 1B), with service investigations and relocations through the pohutukawa tunnels and from the surf club through to Ōpōtiki.

We will also begin widening the road shoulders at the start of this section near Waiōtahe Valley Back Road.

At the same time, we’ll carry out improvements to the curve at the Rankin Road intersection, as well as widening the shoulders and installing side barriers to make this corner safer.

Welcoming new faces to the team

Four local rangatahi (youth) have joined the team at Splice Construction through the Ōpōtiki Mayors’ Taskforce for Jobs (MTFJ) initiative.

The programme helps link unemployed and under-employed young people under the age of 30 to local training and employment.

The new starters have been on the job for six weeks in traffic management and are helping to keep traffic moving and everyone safe during construction.

We have also provided employment for 18 local people this year through the Government-wide Broader Outcomes initiative.

This aims to ensure meaningful and long-term positive outcomes for New Zealand.

Through the acquisition of goods, services, and works, this strategy seeks to:

• contribute to our environment and sustainability
• enhance Māori mana motuhake
• address economic development and employment
• strengthen community

Splice Construction Chief Executive Grant Metcalfe says it is a pleasure working with the team.

“We love working with these people and we are really proud of them. The Mayors’ Taskforce is a fantastic initiative which helps us to provide opportunities for people to get into the civil construction industry.

“Our commitment is to hire locally and that means partnering with and listening to people so we can create job opportunities and pathways.”

Looking back on 2021

We’ve made major progress on this project over the past year with the completion of Section 1A between Wainui Road and Waiotahe Valley Back Road.

This project is being delivered as part of the speed and infrastructure programme, a key part of Road to Zero, which sets a target of reducing the amount of people killed or seriously injured on New Zealand’s roads by 40 per cent by 2030.

We look forward to getting back on site in 2022 and continuing to make SH2 from Wainui Road to Ōpōtiki safer for all road users.

More information

For more information on the SH2 Wainui Road to Ōpōtiki project, or if you have any questions, contact Project Manager Malcolme Flattery at bopprojects@nzta.govt.nz