Ōtaki to north of Levin project update – October 2020

To make travel from Ōtaki to north of Levin safer and more resilient and increase transport choice for the area’s growing population, we're working to build a highway for regional and through traffic by the end of the decade.

September rounded out a busy couple of months of engagement for the Ō2NL programme. We’d like to thank the hundreds of community members who came to our drop-in sessions for both the SH57 safety improvements and the new highway draft preferred alignment. 

In the next few months we’ll continue to digest your feedback and plan for the next steps on these projects.

Drop-in session at Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō on Saturday 5 September.

Community engagement on the new highway

In August and September we hosted ten community drop-in sessions between Manakau, Ohau, Levin and Koputaroa about the draft preferred alignment of the new highway. Nearly 800 people came along to these sessions to find out more and have a chat with the team.

Our interactive map was available online and at drop-in sessions.  We had more than 4000 visits to our interactive Social Pinpoint by more than 1300 online users. Of those users, 116 people provided 269 comments on the map.  While the map is now closed for comments, you can still view comments made during engagement: https://nzta.mysocialpinpoint.com/o2nl-new-highway#/

In addition, 26 people completed the feedback form and 67 people provided their feedback via email.  We’ve also held over 100 meetings with property owners.

Analysis of feedback from this engagement period is ongoing, however we have identified some emerging themes from community feedback.

There were many discussions about:

• the difference between a roundabout and a full interchange – and what could work best for the new highway,
• how the east-west links will be maintained for walking and cycling,
• what the interchange at Tararua Road could look like,
• how people will access the new highway, and
• what the new highway will mean for recreational horse riders.

The feedback will continue to be analysed in the coming weeks and we will update you again later this year. The full engagement report will be published next year, when we let property owners and the community know about refinements to the draft preferred alignment.

Ō2NL panel discussion now online

As part of our August/September engagement on the new highway, we hosted an online panel discussion and Q&A with our project team. This was our first time hosting a webinar via Zoom for Ō2NL and we’d like to thank those of you who joined us and asked great questions.

If you missed out on the webinar but would still like to watch it, the full session is now available on our website. In this recording, the team talk through our recent work to develop the draft preferred alignment, the intersection locations and proposals for local road connections. They also answer questions submitted by the public during the webinar.

You can find the video of the event, as well as the Ō2NL concept design fly-through video here: https://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/wellington-northern-corridor/otaki-to-north-of-levin/o2nl-proposed-new-highway/videos/

Noise at different distances from the road.

Information sheet on managing noise

During our engagement, we heard from community members that potential noise from the new highway is a concern for many property owners near the draft preferred alignment.

We met with stakeholders during engagement to discuss this, and we have now put together a ‘Managing noise information sheet’ to answer your questions.

At this stage of the project, while we are still refining the preferred alignment, noise is considered as part of the multi criteria analysis. This considers environmental and social impacts, ability to implement, and the fit with project objectives.

As we progress through the design and construction phases more detailed assessments will be carried out and we’ll be considering how we can avoid or mitigate potential noise effects. Our processes are based on the independent standard produced by Standards New Zealand (NZS6806) and are also informed by lessons learnt on recent projects.

To find out more and see the timeline of the next steps for noise management:

• See our information sheet on managing noise.

We will be producing more information sheets about different aspects of this project, so please let us know if there is anything you’d like more information on.

SH57 safety improvements drop-in session at Koputaroa Hall on Tuesday 21 July

SH57 engagement report released

In July, we hosted a series of drop-in information sessions on the planned SH57 safety improvements and speed considerations. About 250 locals attended these events and provided feedback on the proposals.

We collected feedback from 87 comments on our interactive Social Pinpoint map, 241 post-it notes on maps at events, 19 completed survey forms and 10 emails.

• The draft engagement report is now available to view.

This draft version of the report reflects feedback on the infrastructure safety improvements we’re building on SH57. That means the new Queen Street/SH57 roundabout, painted wide centrelines and side barriers.

When the final report is published, it will include feedback and responses on speed limit feedback we received.

Next steps

New highway:  The refinement of the draft preferred alignment will take place over the next few months and we’ll come back to you with more information about refinements to the alignment and local road connections early next year.

More information and support

Visit our website www.nzta.govt.nz/o2nl to find about our work in the corridor or check out:

• www.nzta.govt.nz/o2nl-proposed-new-highway for information on the new highway, or 
• http://www.nzta.govt.nz/o2nl-SH57-safety-improvements to find out more about proposed safety improvement plans for SH57, or
• www.nzta.govt.nz/o2nl-safer-roads-and-roadsides to find out about work to make our existing roads and roadsides safer.

Our email newsletters will let you know when there’s new information available on our website.

Do you know people who want to know more? They can subscribe here.

For more information on the Ōtaki to north of Levin project, contact us at o2nl@nzta.govt.nz