Mid-winter milestones

It’s certainly feeling wintery out there but excellent progress continues to be made on Te Ahu a Turanga.

We have celebrated some major milestones this season, with the earthworks team passing the 500,000 cubic metre mark, the landscaping team getting over 130,000 native plants in the ground, and the structures team pouring concrete on the third structure as well as beginning piling at pier 1 on Parahaki Bridge.

The new purpose built laboratory that will test all the material used on the new highway has progressed and the lab team is looking forward to moving in to their new home shortly. Located near the Te Ahu a Turanga site office on Napier Road, the lab will be an asset to the region as well as the project.

Our drone flyovers of the new highway alignment are attracting a large audience - over 45,000 people viewed the last flyover on social media. Keep your eyes out for the next one in September.

On the lock-down front, nothing except essential service can happen during Level 4, and only once we have agreement with Government and approved plans will we be able to start in Level 3. We are constantly monitoring the situation and planning as much as is possible in the circumstances, and look forward to resuming construction as soon as we are safely able to do so.

Planting up a storm

Our landscaping team recently celebrated the planting of over 130,000 native plants as part of the project’s ecological offset commitment.

The plants have been steadily planted at two farm sites in the wider project area and the planting team is expecting to be planting until October.

Planting at these properties is stream Riparian, wetland buffer and pasture wetland. Frost protection measures have been put in place to protect plants and the final battening of new fences is nearing completion. Night hunting of pest animals is continuing.

Planning for the 2022 planting requirements is underway, with four sites confirmed that will take over 550,000 native plants next year.

Parahaki Bridge permanent works soon to start

At Parahaki Bridge construction of the permanent works is about to start, with the installation of 8 piles - each 2.1m in diameter - 35m deep below a pilecap on the southern bank.

The current construction has been about getting access to build the permanent works and is continuing across the river with the extension of the temporary staging structure.

This will enable work to progress above variations in the water level within the banks of the river as it changes through the seasons. Visitors to the Gorge car park will see numerous cranes ranging from 100T to 250T crawlers arranged around the various work fronts.

The reinforced concrete piles at Pier 1 will take weeks to drill and pour below the water table existing in the ground, while the staging should reach the far bank of the river in early August.

The steel box (cofferdam) sitting in the middle of the river to the upstream side of the staging, is a protective box to allow the construction of pier two – again, 8 concrete piltes 2.1m in diameter, with the middle pile 48m deep. The cofferdam enables the piles to be built in a safe and dry environment. The excavation of the river bed within this protective box will start in August.

We’ve talked a lot about the foundations but what kind of bridge are we building? The bridge itself will be a tapered twin box girder, constructed by in-situ balanced cantilever method, incrementally out from each side of each of the three piers. It will be the largest in the country and probably the largest in the southern hemisphere.

Apart from two lanes of traffic in each direction, it will carry the shared user path for pedestrians and cyclists together with a viewing platform on the upstream side for people to stop and admire the view back up the gorge, more than 30 metres above the river.

Conservation Volunteers NZ Pilot Programme

The Te Ahu a Turanga Alliance is running a pilot conservation work skills programme with support from the Ministry of Social Development. The three-month course provides participants with three paid days a week where they’ll work alongside our Kaitiaki to learn about conservation and the whenua (land).

We will be running a total of three of these courses over the coming year. Participants will come away with practical conservation work skills that can be applied on this project and others. The course content prioritises Matauranga Māori and covers Kaitiakaitanga, Taiao, awa health monitoring, environmental and landscaping issues, pest control, planting, weed and native plant identification, qualifications in chainsaw operating, Growsafe, first aid, Rongoa Māori, and health and safety.

If you know of anyone with an interest in outdoor work and caring for the environment, contact Jono Harrison, Kaimahi Lead – Employment and Procurement Outcomes, about placements on the next course. jono.harrison@teahuaturanga.co.nz.

More information

For more information, please use one of more of the following methods:

nzta.govt.nz/teahuaturanga

facebook.com/nztacni

twitter.com/wakakotahicni

0800 740 560

teahuaturanga@nzta.govt.nz