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Zones 1 - 10 on the M2PP Corridor

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Mackays to Peka Peka corridor improvements

Kia ora,

Welcome to our second newsletter for the MacKays to Peka Peka (M2PP) Corridor Improvement project. If you missed the first one you can click here to view it.

I thought I’d give you a bit of a glimpse into our work with a picture of our team on-site (see image below). It provides an indication of how far underground we are working and why work across an area can take a little longer than you might think.

To date, our drainage crews have completed 250m of new pipe installations. The new stormwater assets are being installed at a depth of 4-5m, which makes for slow progress and creates a few health & safety challenges for our team. People may have noticed the large trench shields and boxes on-site. Due to the unstable nature of the ground we use these to protect our team from potential trench collapses.

We are currently working our way through Zone One, which means we are working in front of people’s homes, bringing a variety of challenges and rewards. We have shared some of these in this project update, along with an introduction to our Senior Project Engineer, Jake Allen.  Jake is one of the team you’ll meet if we are working in front of your property. He’s a great, knowledgeable guy who grew up on the Kāpiti Coast, and we are proud to have him as a key part of our team.

In our next newsletter we’ll cover some of the more significant roading changes happening in 2021 (weather and pandemic permitting).  This includes roundabouts and traffic lights and better pedestrian access between the railway station and Coastlands mall. Until then, if you are a resident on the old State Highway One, this newsletter will give you a bit of an insight of what to expect.

We are very thankful and appreciative of our neighbours’ support and understanding of the temporary delays and disruptions as we go about our work. We are excited to be starting the first new section of footpath soon, and look forward to seeing the public using this new asset for safer passage into town once it is completed.

Mike Walding
Senior Project Manager Higgins

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Pedestrian and Cyclist Raceways on old State Highway 1

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Pedestrian and Cyclist Raceways

If you’re travelling north on the old State Highway One, between Poplar Ave and Raumati Road, you could be forgiven for thinking that the road is being invaded by a small orange army.   Thankfully that would also mean you’ve noticed there are works happening. While alerting people to works is one of the main purposes of the cones, they also help us manage and direct traffic, including pedestrians and cyclists.

In addition to clearly marking the roadway for motorists, the M2PP Corridor Improvement project has introduced ‘raceways’ that allow pedestrians and cyclists to share a path on a closed section of the old state highway.

“One of the reasons we are doing the corridor improvement is to make sure that the road is usable for all road users,” Project Manager Mike Walding says.

“What we’re aiming for with the raceways is to help keep pathway users safe and protected while they navigate around our work site.”

The M2PP pedestrian and cyclist raceways (shown above) will be moved as the team works its way down the old State Highway One.

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Temporary pipe in place to safeguard old State Highway 1 residents water supply

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Water supply disruptions

Our team discovered recently that even the best planning can’t always prevent incidents from occurring, especially when working with water pipes.  On at least two occasions while working on Zone One (Poplar Ave to Raumati Road) the team found themselves dealing with unexpected water ruptures and subsequently delivering “apology chocolates” to affected residents, whose homes had their water supply unexpectedly switched off.

We do our best to avoid these sorts of disruptions. Before starting any work, we use technology such as Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Cable Avoiding Tools (CAT) to identify underground services such as water and telecommunications. Markers are then placed to identify where the piped services are, and how deep they can be found. An internal process is also in place requiring ‘Permits to Pothole’ or ‘Permits to Excavate’ depending on the depth. This means that workers don’t just start digging, and instead go through a formal process to ensure care is taken to confirm piped services are identified and avoided.

While working on the stormwater system in Zone One, there were two recent incidents that resulted in water disruption, affecting 30-35 properties.  Since then, a temporary by-pass pipe has been installed to prevent any  recurrence, and allowing works to continue while safeguarding the water supply for nearby residents.

A permanent solution to the temporary bypass is still pending.

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Jake Allen - Senior Project Engineer, M2PP Corridor Improvement Project.

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Meet the team - Introducing Jake Allen.

“Resident golden boy” is how M2PP Project Manager, Mike Walding describes colleague and Senior Project Engineer, Jake Allen. When you speak with Jake you can quickly see why.  He was a Deputy Head Boy at Kāpiti College, and has a history of involvement with the Raumati Swimming Club and Paekākāriki Surf Lifesaving Club – where he has recently volunteered to help with the clubroom redesign. Plus, he’s genuinely a great guy.

In 2015 Jake graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) from Auckland University.  He spent the first part of his career mostly working on the design side of the industry, and has loved getting a taste of the construction side since joining the M2PP team.

Jake’s hobbies seem to revolve around water – even the frozen kind.  Prior to joining the team, Jake was on a ski trip through the Americas with his partner Dayna.  Having spent almost seven months venturing through Argentina, Chile and the United States, their trip was unfortunately cut short due to Covid-19, but not before summiting the 6000-meter Huayna Potosí peak in Bolivia. To put that achievement into perspective, Aoraki-Mt Cook is just 3724 meters high! When international borders reopen, he is keen to get back on the slopes, hopefully in Canada.

One of the reasons Jake chose a career in engineering is the chance to work outside. He loves being on site supervising the work and interacting with residents.  Being from the Kapiti Coast, he is proud to be working on the M2PP Corridor Improvement Project with the knowledge it is making the community safer and helping people stay active.

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Old State Highway One resident delivering chocolate cake to our team.

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Engaging with residents – and engaging residents.

Having a gang of roadworkers busy in front of your home or business is generally not on most people’s wish list –so you can imagine the team’s surprise when a resident of the old State Highway One approached with chocolate cake.

Our team is aware that, at times, our work can be disruptive, but we also hope that when it’s finished, looking good and keeping people safe, the disruption for people will have been worth it.

“Our workers really enjoy the interactions we have with our community. We value the friendly waves and chats over fences, and when residents are this hospitable, it helps make us and the work we are doing feel appreciated, even though we know it can at times be a bit of a nuisance,” says M2PP Senior Project Engineer Jake Allen.

As the work includes placing new pipework in the ground across the front of driveways, residents’ access needs to be restricted for short periods. Once that work is done, a second team then replaces footpath and kerbing, resulting in a second, unavoidable disruption for affected residents.  We know this can be an inconvenience for residents who are home during the day.

“We try our best to keep residents informed of when our work will impact on them,” says Jake.  “We generally give a heads-up a few weeks before starting work in the front of their property, and then a rough timeframe of when access to their driveway is going to be affected.   Once we know the date we’ll be working across their driveway we try to reach people at home to discuss alternative parking and access options while construction takes place.”

Jake said the team are doing their best to minimise disruption and suggested the best way for residents to stay informed is to email their daytime contact phone numbers to our team as a back-up, just in case they’re  not at home when we do letter drops and door knocks. This is especially important for shift workers and people who may leave their residence several times a day and miss the team’s visits, or not appreciate daytime door-knocks if they’re trying to recover from night shift.

Residents can email us with their contact details or to organise arrangements at m2ppRevocation@nzta.govt.nz

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Feedback sought on Mackays Crossing Commercial Vehicle Safety Centre (CVSC)

Finally, a project unrelated to our work on M2PP that may still be of interest to residents. With Transmission Gully due to open next year, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is proposing to build a new Commercial Vehicle Safety Centre (CVSC) just south of Mackays Crossing and is now seeking feedback on the proposal.

The proposed CVSC is one of 12 planned throughout New Zealand as part of the Weigh Right Programme. The programme will install roadside technology and develop intelligent software to direct potentially overloaded vehicles to the CVSC. The technology will allow compliant heavy vehicles to continue their journey uninterrupted.

To provide feedback on this proposal, please click here. For further information please email weighright@nzta.govt.nz

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More information

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For more information on the Mackays to Peka Peka revocation project, contact us at m2pprevocation@nzta.govt.nz

Visit our website www.nzta.govt.nz/m2pp-revocation

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