Activity ramping up north of Papakura Interchange

While, until now, our project team has been doing a lot of work south of Papakura Interchange, works at the northern end of the project are now starting to ramp up.  A retaining wall is being built under the Beach Road overbridge on the southbound side to create the room needed to build an additional lane.  North of this, earthworks are underway as the team has started stormwater improvements work and pavement works for the additional southbound lane.

Across the motorway on the northbound side of Papakura Interchange, works are about to start.  Beginning this month, we'll be clearing vegetation beside both northbound on-ramps and then, after returning from our summer shutdown period in mid-January, stormwater and pavement works will be all go.

New southbound site access points

In addition to widening the motorway, we're also building a new southbound on-ramp at Beach Road.  The current looping southbound on-ramp will remain for traffic approaching Papakura Interchange from the west (Karaka), while the new southbound on-ramp will give traffic from the Papakura side a left-turn straight onto the southbound motorway.

In the New Year, our current site entrance on Beach Road will close as this is where the start of the new on-ramp will be built.  Also, large box culverts (for stormwater) being built under and across the motorway at three locations split up our worksite behind the temporary steel barriers.

The combined impact of these works means three new site access points for our project vehicles have needed to be opened directly from the motorway, heading southbound between Papakura Interchange and Park Estate Road bridge - a long straight section of the motorway with clear visibility.

All project vehicles entering and exiting from these site access points will have their beacons and hazard lights on, will reduce their speed as they approach the access point and will be escorted by traffic management trucks.

Drivers travelling southbound on the Southern Motorway between Papakura and Drury, please keep an eye out for project vehicles using these new site access points and take extra care.

Given these new site access points, the posted speed limit in the southbound direction will remain at 80 km/h until further notice.

On the left-hand side of this photo is one of three box culvert sites.  These culverts between the Beach Road and Park Estate Road over-bridges have effectively divided our worksite beside the southbound lanes into sections, so site access points (see inset) from the motorway are now being used by project vehicles.

A prefabricated section of one of the concrete box culverts that, when completed, will run under the full width of the motorway.

Ngā pikitia | Latest photos from site

Thousands of vehicles travel through our project site every day, but motorists busy with their driving don't get to see very much of what we are working on.

Lots has been happening along the full length of our site and the photos below show some of the work underway: bridges being built by Drury Interchange over the railway lines and over the motorway at Park Estate Road; new retaining walls going up either side of the motorway; lots of pavement works including stabilisation (where concrete is added to the top of the subgrade layer to strengthen it); plus we're providing a way for existing and future services (utilities) to cross the motorway using Park Estate Road bridge.

Nau mai haere mai | Come and see us

Our next community information day will be held on Saturday 10 December at the Drury Hall, 10 Tui Street, between 10am and 1pm.

We'd love you to come and join us to learn more about our construction progress and upcoming stages of work, and check out our design plans.

Other project teams working in the Drury area will also be attending our information day including Waihoehoe Road and SH22 Drury upgrades; KiwiRail (for their Southern Stations and Electrification to Pukekohe projects); and Te Tupu Ngātahi Supporting Growth.

Come and meet members of our teams and have your questions answered.

E haere ake nei | Looking ahead

During the coming months, our project works include:

• Widening the motorway on the southbound side
• Building three new culverts crossing under the motorway
• Building a new southbound on-ramp at Papakura Interchange
• Building retaining walls on both sides of the motorway
• Relocating and upgrading utility services
• Completing a new bridge over the motorway at Park Estate Road
• Widening Park Estate Road both sides of the bridge and building a new footpath and cycle path
• Bridge piling at Drury Interchange, for three new motorway bridges being built over the railway lines.

Note: Our construction team will be taking a summer break from Thursday 22 December 2022 and will return to work in the New Year on Monday 16 January 2023.

Whakapā mai | Contact us

For further information regarding the project please contact our team:

P: 0800 796 796 or text 027 703 5284 - for construction-related queries
P: 0800 741 722 - for general project queries
E: p2b@nzta.govt.nz
W: www.nzta.govt.nz/p2b

You can also visit the Papakura to Drury project site office during normal business hours (weekdays 8am-5pm) at 25 Tegal Road, Drury.