Project update

3 April 2024

North of the Mt Messenger summit, 'Fill 12' will comprise 660,000m3 of earth and is the largest fill on the Te Ara o Te Ata - Mt Messenger Bypass Project.

Great progress in challenging conditions

The Mt Messenger Alliance has now excavated a total of 139,000m3 across the project footprint*, and the team has completed a determined start to 2024, cutting, filling, piping and stabilising in hot and sometimes wet conditions.

On the southern side of Mt Messenger, we’re heading for the future site of the project's 125m bridge. The focus has been on preparing ground access, while installing a manhole for inspecting the project’s first permanent culvert.

Heading north, we’ve had a busy crew in 'Fill 13', building access from the cableway’s south anchor point to where we’ll begin work on the southern entrance of the 235m tunnel.

Our tunnellers have been busy drilling test boreholes and trialling shotcrete that will line the interior. Refurbishment is almost complete on the giant roadheader, which will begin excavating the tunnel later this year.

On the other side of the hill, we’ve been making great progress in 'Fill 12'. At almost 660,000m3, this will be the project’s largest fill and it’s steadily growing thanks to the efforts of a dedicated team.

With no wind in that enclosed space, the temperature can be several degrees hotter than elsewhere on the project (it has reached the mid 30s on occasion), but our people have responded with resilience and good spirits. 

At times, the weather hasn’t been ideal for road construction, but our environmental protections have held up well. We’re optimistic that conditions will settle, and our progress will stay on track as we work towards our goals for this construction season ending in May.

*Over the life of the project, the Mt Messenger Alliance will shift a projected 1.2 million m3 of earth and rock, of which about 950,000m3 will be used for fill as the team builds up and levels out the land along the 6km route.

Emergency responders at the Mt Messenger Alliance.

Emergency Team ready for anything and everything

The team at Te Ara o Te Ata – Mt Messenger Bypass project pride themselves on ensuring they are prepared for anything and everything.

When the project first broke ground in 2022, the health and safety of workers was front and centre and it has stayed that way.

The project is a range of activities set in a remote setting where no one day is the same. The local environment means the team sometimes needs to take a non-traditional approach to how we respond to an emergency event.

The project is well-equipped and our Pre-Hospital Emergency Care (PHEC) team are trained to ensure we are well positioned to support the welfare of our people and visitors during any emergency event.

Health, Safety and Wellbeing Manager Marie Fleming says: "When it came to understanding the adverse challenges of working in a remote and rugged environment, we worked collaboratively to develop the right approach - to ensure we could provide the highest level of medical response and care.

"It was about having the right people in place coupled with a set-up tailored to our unique and very special working environment."

Today the project's emergency response setup includes nominated workers who have undergone PHEC training, along with a specialised team trained in ropes rescue.

The team can provide non-surgical treatment, including using trauma kits, stretchers, resuscitation equipment, defibrillators and significant bleed treatment kits, as well as having the ability to monitor a person's vitals, like their heart rate, blood pressure and blood glucose levels. The team has strategically located equipment in areas closest to where higher risk activities occur.

The project recently had a member of the public drive into the site indicating they were unwell.

With emergency services called and on their way, the PHEC team were on hand to respond and the support, care and assessment was delivered with dedication, passion, professionalism and aroha - not only for the person but also to their whanau on the other end of the phone.

"It's good to know we have the capability to not only help our workforce in times of need, but members of the community as well," says Marie.

Repairs for SH3

From 2 to 19 April, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi is undertaking maintenance work to extend the life of the current SH3 over Mt Messenger.

The road will be closed from 7pm on Friday 5 April to 4am on Monday 8 April. Over this period the road will open from 12am to 1am, 5am to 7am, 12pm to 1pm and 5pm to 7pm each day and night.

Outside of closure times, there will be a Stop/Go with a 30km/h temporary speed restriction in place between 6pm and 6am.

Please plan your journey accordingly, avoiding travel during these closures if possible and expect up to 30 minute delays during Stop/Go works.

Left to right: The McClutchie whanau – Melinda (mum), Jack and Davis, along with Roger MacGibbon, Senior Project Ecologist.

Happy Jack

Ko Parininihi te maunga
Ko Waikaramuramu te awa
Ko Ngāti Tama me Ngāti Mutunga ngā iwi
Ko Tiaki Te Kapinga rāua ko Esme McClutchie ngā tūpuna
Ko Jack McClutchie tēnei

Te Ara o Te Ata team member Jack McClutchie (Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga) has a lot to be happy about, having recently won a scholarship that will ensure he is the first in his whānau to study at university.

Jack won the Tonkin + Taylor Ngāti Tama scholarship, which will help him study for a Bachelor of Science, majoring in ecology and biodiversity, at the University of Waikato.

Mt Messenger Alliance partners Tonkin + Taylor and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Tama have worked together on developing the scholarship over the past year.

Like generations of McClutchies before him, Jack was born and bred in north Taranaki. He’s been active in the ngahere (forest) since primary school, doing environmental biosecurity work and volunteering in the Parininihi with his dad, Davis.

Jack began work in Te Ara o Te Ata’s environmental team after finishing high school and has turned his hand to checking traps, planting and helping with kiwi and kokako monitoring and releases.

“I'm really grateful for the opportunity to further my studies so I can gain knowledge to help the iwi," says Jack.

The Te Ara o Te Ata environmental programme aims to create long term biodiversity outcomes in the area around the future 6km bypass.

Recent months have seen a focus on riparian planting and fencing south of the project area.

Big gains in fencing and riparian planting

Our first full riparian planting season was completed recently and we’re well on the way to transforming the area south of Mt Messenger.

Local contractors planted 16,600 grasses, flax, shrubs, and trees along the Mimi Stream. Once established, these will improve the health of the waterway by filtering sediment and nutrients and providing shade for native species including kōkopu and kōura.

The new plants are protected by nine kilometres of new stock-exclusion fencing along both sides of the waterway.

Riparian fencing and planting will resume later this year and ultimately see around 96,000 plants across 15 hectares.

This huge undertaking wouldn’t be possible without the support of local iwi and landowners who we’ve partnered with as part of our commitment to help improve the wider project area for future generations.

All up, our restoration programme is committed to planting almost 300,000 natives in waterways, roadside margins and cut slopes across 46 hectares in and adjacent to the Parininihi area.

More information

For more information on Te Ara o Te Ata: Mt Messenger Bypass, please visit our website, email SH3@nzta.govt.nz or call 0800 BYPASS.