L-R Fulton Hogan Project Director Tony Gallagher, Transport Minister Michael Wood, Labour MP Angie Warren-Clark

Transport Minister visits Bay of Plenty’s biggest roading project

Transport Minister Michael Wood and Labour MP Angie Warren-Clark got a first-hand look at construction on the Bay of Plenty’s biggest roading project, the Takitimu North Link Stage One, this week.

Main construction is underway on Stage One between Tauranga and Te Puna, it is the 12th project in construction under the New Zealand Upgrade Programme which is providing growing communities with better transport choices that help people get where they’re going safely.

Read more about the project

Taking shape: Early roundabout works at Tetley Road

Funding for further safety improvements confirmed

State Highway 2 (SH2) between Waihī and Ōmokoroa is set to become safer for everyone with the installation of flexible median barriers and upgrade to additional intersections between Tetley Road and Esdaile Road.

People will start to see activity ramp up at the Rea Road/Tetley Road intersection, south of Katikati before the end of February. A roundabout is being constructed here as part of the original project scope and is is a four-leg, 38m diameter design with slow vehicle passing bays on exiting SH2 northbound and sourthbound.

As part of this work, a section of Tetley Road, including the SH2 intersection, will be closed between SH2 and Rereatukahia Pā Road for approximately eight weeks between mid-February and mid-April 2022. People wanting to access Tetley Road during this time will detour through Marshall Road in Katikati. The route will be sign posted and additional travel time is estimated to be one to two minutes.

A second roundabout at the SH2/Morton Road intersection is in the design stage with construction expected to begin mid-2022. The team is also working through programming for the remaining roundabouts at Sharp Road, Lockington/Matahui Roads, Apata Station Road and Esdaile/Pahoia Roads. 

The inclusion of flexible median barrier was proposed early on as a safety enhancement to the current widening works and has undergone several stages of public consultation.

Intersection crashes are a cause of death and serious injuries on this corridor. Roundabouts can reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured by at least 60 per cent, because they significantly reduce the chance of head-on and side impact crashes, with lower vehicle speeds. While crashes may still happen, they are less likely to result in people being killed or seriously injured.

We know there is a lot to do across this stretch of SH2 and we cannot do it all at once. This rapidly growing region is undergoing significant investment, and it will take us time to implement all that is needed.

We look forward to keeping you informed of progress.

Rolling along: The construction team at work grading and rolling before the road can be sealed

It's back to work on State Highway 2 safety improvements

Construction crews are back on site in several locations between Waihī and Ōmokoroa following the December/January break.

Ongoing safety improvement works are now underway on State Highway 2 (SH2) at the following locations:

• Athenree Road to Tanners Point Road – road widening
• Hikurangi Road to Tuapiro Road – construction of a retaining wall
• Rea Road / Tetley Road intersection – preparation works for a roundabout
• Lund Road to Aongatete – road widening, earthworks, drainage and service relocation
• Wainui River Bridge to south of Sargent Drive – road widening and full width reconstruction.

Please follow temporary traffic management signs and temporary speed limits. Motorists should take extra care around these locations and expect delays between one to two minutes.

Kopurererua Valley pathway closure – detour in place from March 2022

A section of the Kopurererua Valley pathway will be closed permanently as construction on the Takitimu North Link Stage One project progresses, and work begins to construct the 6.8km shared path to Te Puna alongside the new road.

There is a detour available on the eastern side of State Highway 29 using the existing network. The detour will add about 2km to the journey when travelling from the BMX park / Cambridge Park towards Tauriko / Westridge, using the main cycleway coming from the CBD to Tauriko. The detour may change during other work in the area although signage will be in place.

There will be a lot of activity in this area while work takes place across several projects. Close by the Kopurererua Valley Reserve Restoration project is taking place and includes a new section of cycleway. Tauranga Moana hapū Ngāi Tamarāwaho, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Tauranga City Council are leading the work on this significant project over the next three years.

The BMX Park and Cambridge Park will remain open throughout construction.

The cycling community can look forward to great experiences within Tauranga’s transport network and we thank everyone for their patience while this work takes place.

Doing the mahi: Contractors digging out a new trench for the relocation of services near Mills Reef Winery.

Waihī to Ōmokoroa Project making good progress

Work is now complete on five sections of SH2 between Waihī and Ōmokoroa:

• Heath Road to Trig Road – completed in 2019
• Trig Road to Athenree Gorge – completed in 2020
• Wharawhara Road to Sharp Road – completed in 2020
• Kauri Point Road to Lindemann Road – completed in 2021
• Wainui South Road to Esdaile Road – completed in 2021

In these completed sections the road has been widened, we’ve made the centreline wider to help separate oncoming traffic, provided wider shoulder to give drivers more room, installed roadside safety barriers where there are hazardous power poles, trees and deep ditches cannot be removed and made intersections safer.

The next site likely to be completed, pending materials supply, is Sharp Road to Sargent Drive. This will mean we are well over the halfway point, marking another step towards making SH2 between Waihī and Ōmokoroa safer for all road users.

Construction of each section takes around 12-18 months to complete with the project expected to be finished by 2024.

Tracking along: The Wairoa Haul Road/access track into the Wairoa Valley is now complete

It's all action on Stage One of Takitimu North Link

Our contractors, Fulton Hogan / HEB Joint Venture, have been busy on site between Cambridge Road and Wairoa Valley as enabling works make progress and investigations continue for Takitimu North Link Stage One.

The team is currently working on site undertaking erosion and sediment control installation, enabling earthworks, archaeological investigations, identifying utilities and carrying out some service relocations.

A summary of what’s happening at our main work areas is below:

Smith’s Farm / Richards Way
• Environmental Controls – silt fences, stream diversion
• Vegetation and site clearance
• Fish surveys

Cambridge Road / Harrison Road
• Utilities relocations
• Environmental control installation – silt fences, stream diversion, sediment retention ponds
• Tree felling
• Boundary fencing
• Constructing access to the Wairoa Valley on the eastern side of Wairoa River from the end of Harrison Road

Wairoa Road and Valley
• Earthworks being completed for the new diversion road
• Archaeology investigations in the Wairoa Valley west of the river, and west of Wairoa Road
• Earthworks continuing for the construction of the vehicle access track down to the Wairoa Valley
• Tree clearing and stump grinding
• Erosion and sediment controls– silt fences, stream diversion, sediment retention ponds
• Construction of a trial embankment
• Utility relocation (Stop/Go traffic management in place)
• Cutover of 11KVA cable

Te Mete Road / Clarke Road
• Construction of a ground water bore
• Haul road construction
• Site clearing including kiwifruit and shelter belts

Minden Road
• Boundary fencing
• Archaeology investigation
• Kindergarten to be relocated
• Preparing the area for stock piling of aggregates (construction material)
• Earthworks to enable bridge construction over the Minden Gully
• New site office construction

To read more about the project visit nzta.govt.nz/takitimunorth If you have any questions about our programme of work, please do not hesitate to contact us.
info@takitimunorthlink.co.nz
0800 865 776

Community conversations: we held a drop-in information session at Belvedere Reserve, Bethlehem in January 2022

Takitimu North Link Project team meet the neighbours

A community drop-in information session for locals close to the Cambridge Road area of the Takitimu North Link Stage One project was held in January 2022.

This was a great opportunity for our team to meet neighbours, answer questions about the project and share more about what to expect during construction.

Thank you to all who came to see us! We’ll be running more of these in coming months and ensuring we can do this safely within the evolving COVID-19 situation.

"Mistakes on the road are inevitable, but deaths and serious injuries aren't"

That is the message from Waka Kotahi chief executive, Nicole Rosie following a devastating holiday period on New Zealand roads which saw 17 people killed in crashes.

In 2021, a total of 320 lives were lost on the road – nearly a person every day.

“These losses have a devastating impact on families and communities. For every person killed on our roads, about seven sustain serious injuries, many of which are life-long and debilitating.”

In an opinion piece published on Stuff.co.nz, Rosie says it is time to say no to deaths and serious injuries on the road.

“Deaths and serious injuries are preventable, but reducing crashes is about much more than just how we drive. It’s about all the different parts of the system – roads, vehicles, speeds, and people.”

Road to Zero 2020-2030, New Zealand’s road safety strategy, tells us what New Zealand needs to do to make improvements in road safety. It includes evidence-based tools to identify the best solution in high-risk areas. These include new roundabouts, median barriers, side barriers, widened centerlines and rumble strips.

Getting more New Zealanders into vehicles with high safety ratings is also a big part of the strategy as is making reducing speed limits on high-risk roads to safe levels.

The strategy sets an ambitious target of reducing deaths and serious injuries by 40 per cent by 2030 and to zero by 2050.

“To achieve Vision Zero, we need to create a safe transport system which recognises that people make mistakes and is designed so that these mistakes do not need to cost lives.”

A 2018 New Zealand AA Research Foundation study found that, for about 70 per cent of crashes where people were seriously injured, drivers had generally followed the road rules.

“Rather than driving recklessly, people had simply made a mistake, or something unexpected happened,” Ms Rosie says.

“Everyone makes mistakes, and some crashes are inevitable, which is why the safe system seeks to ensure that these crashes are survivable.”

Around $5 billion will be invested across New Zealand over the next 10 years on speed and infrastructure projects like SH2 Waihī to Ōmokoroa which aim to make the road safer so when mistakes do happen, people don’t have to die or become seriously injured as a result.

“We won’t get to zero overnight, but by setting that as the vision, and working towards it with a clear plan and a hard target for 2030, we can save hundreds of lives and prevent thousands of injuries, which is worth fighting for,” Ms Rosie says.

Read the full article here: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/127450914/mistakes-on-the-road-are-inevitable-but-deaths-and-serious-injuries-arent

More information

For more information on the SH2 Waihī to Tauranga Corridor projects, contact us at bopprojects@nzta.govt.nz

Visit our websites

SH2 Waihī to Tauranga corridor

SH2 Waihī to Ōmokoroa safety improvements

SH2 Katikati to Tauranga speed review

Takitimu North Link