SH2 Melling Transport Improvements and Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi

Community update

22 July 2026

This programme update provides information on the NZ Transport Agency's SH2 Melling Transport Improvements project, Greater Wellington's flood protection work, and Hutt City Council's urban revitalisation, delivered in partnership with mana whenua Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika and Ngāti Toa Rangatira, all part of Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi.

Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi means 'the soothing waters of Hutt River'. Gifted by Kura Moeahu, Te Āti Awa Rangatira, it reflects the shared responsibility to care for Te Awa Kairangi for present and future generations. The programme was formerly known as RiverLink.

In this issue:

• A story of the last six months
• Melling Link Bridge lane trial
• Changes to lanes on SH2
• Bore me to the core
• Giving the river more room to move
• Matariki mā Puanga
• Passing on the passion
• Lesson in flood management
• People of the project: Rhiannon

A story of the last six months

The Alliance delivering the SH2 Melling Transport Improvements on behalf of NZTA has made some significant progress over the last six months. Since work for the year started on the 6th of January, some of our highlights include:

• Placed over 43,000m3 of preload on the western side to settle the ground ahead of western hills main sewer relocation
• Laid over 1km of ducting and 3 Waters pipes across the Queens Dr – High St intersection as part of its upgrade 
• Driven over 2km of ground improvement piles ahead of new Melling Bridge construction
• Inducted over 900 people on site* 
• We have an average of 126 staff working on the site each day, across both construction zones and in the site office 
• We have partnered with 69 businesses based in the greater Wellington region, including 23 in the Hutt Valley
• Partnered with 16 iwi mana whenua businesses (defined as those who whakapapa (trace ancestral connections) to any hapū (subtribe) within Te Āti Awa Taranaki, or Ngāti Toa Rangatira).

*this is the total number of people who have received safety inductions. It includes contractors who may have carried out specific tasks for short periods; it doesn’t mean we have 900 people working on the site.

Melling Link Bridge lane trial

A new layout on the Melling Link Bridge is being trialled that allows you to use both lanes to head north on State Highway 2 when you’re leaving Lower Hutt city centre. 

The previous layout had two lanes heading out of the city onto SH2, with the left-most lane designated as a left-turn-only lane sending drivers south towards Wellington. 

The new layout utilises both lanes for drivers to turn north onto SH2. That means you can still use the left lane if you want to turn south to Wellington, but will now be able to use the left lane to go straight to Harbour View Road and turn right onto the state highway towards Upper Hutt. 

Simulations we have run show us this layout will help reduce some delays and queuing for people leaving Lower Hutt at peak times. This should be especially helpful for drivers using Rutherford Street, as you’ll be able to use both of its lanes to turn north on SH2, rather than having to merge on the bridge.

We expect there to be a bit of disruption in the first few days of the trial as everyone adjusts to the temporary layout, but soon after it should make for more efficient travel through here. 

The trial will run for eight weeks, then we will review how the temporary layout is working. New lane markings and signage is in place to guide you through the new layout.

Changes to lanes on SH2

You may also have noticed some changes to the lanes on SH2 south of Melling. We have slightly altered the road layout and reduced the speed limit to 50km/h so we can work safely within the rail corridor over the coming years. To accommodate this, the left-hand lane has been made slightly narrower, so we ask large vehicles to travel through this area in the right lane where possible.

Bore me to the core

The Alliance conitnues to build solid foundations in preparation for the new interchange and bridge over Te Awa Kairangi/Hutt River. This involves extensive piling to stabilise the ground so it’s strong enough to support the structures we will be building later in the project. There are two different types of piling currently taking place on site: Continuous Flight Auger (CFA) piling and sheet piling.

CFA piles are a fast, cost-effective, and virtually vibration-free foundation method, ideal for urban environments and variable ground conditions. Over the next month, we will be installing ~360 CFA piles to help stabilise the ground under the Mechanically Stabilised Earth (MSE) wall abutments on the eastern (city) side of the new SH2 bridge, as well as the new interchange’s southbound offramp. 

The team intend to install approximately 20 CFA piles/day. Each pile is 600mm in diameter and will be ~6m deep. Concrete is pumped into the hole as the drill auger is extracted, followed by plunging a Universal Column (UC/ “H”) steel beam down the centre to provide the required reinforcement for the pile. For this phase, approximately 305m³ of concrete will be needed, the equivalent of 61 trucks!

Sheet piling involves driving interlocking steel sheets into the ground to create a continuous sturdy barrier. These are typically used to create temporary or permanent retaining walls, deep excavations or temporary cofferdams. We are using these to support temporary excavations of the western hills main sewer and maintain the watertightness of the stopbank in the event of a flood. We also used this technique at Outlet 35 - a new stormwater pipe beside the stopbank on the eastern side of the river. Learn more about this work on the programme Facebook page.

Giving the river more room to move

This month gravel extraction is taking place just south of Kennedy Good Bridge. It's one of the many ways Greater Wellington helps reduce flood risk in Te Awa Kairangi/Hutt River and build resilience against increasingly severe weather.

We often get asked why we’re doing this work.

GW project manager Robbie Woods explains: “Te Awa Kairang/ Hutt River is a dynamic river that naturally carries gravel downstream. Over time, this material settles and builds up on the riverbed. 

“If the levels get too high the river can lose capacity, meaning there's less room for water during heavy rainfall. This in turn increases pressure on our stopbanks, contributes to erosion, and heightens flood risk for nearby communities and infrastructure.”

By carefully extracting the excess, we can help maintain the river's ability to safely carry floodwaters. 

Robbie adds: “Before any gravel is removed, we work within a range of environmental, cultural and regulatory requirements. These help ensure flood protection work is balanced with ecological, recreational and cultural values.”

The work supports our wider flood protection initiatives as part of Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi, which includes stopbanks and bioengineering sites –all of which help to safeguard homes, businesses, transport connections and essential services across the valley. 

There is also an added benefit to this year's programme. The gravel will be set aside for use by NZTA during construction of the new SH2 Melling interchange and Melling Bridge. The material will help create crane pads needed for the project, ensuring a valuable local resource is put to use supporting another major investment in the Hutt Valley's future resilience and transport network.

This work is part of Greater Wellington's wider flood resilience programme for Te Awa Kairangi/Hutt River. Managing flood risk isn't about stopping the river from changing. It's about understanding how the river naturally moves and working with those processes to protect people, infrastructure and the environment. That's how we're helping protect our place while giving the river room to move.

Matariki mā Puanga

The rising of Matariki in the mid-winter sky marks the start of the new year. Across Aotearoa New Zealand, Matariki is a time to pause: to remember those we've lost, celebrate the present, and look to the future with intention by feasting, storytelling and aligning with the natural environment.

For iwi (tribes) of Taranaki, the star Puanga, known in western astronomy as Rigel, the brightest star in the Orion constellation, is their marking for the new year. Puanga rises higher in the sky and shines more brightly than Matariki, making it easier to see from their location. When some Taranaki iwi and hapū (subtribes) migrated south to Te Whanganui-a-Tara in the 1820s and early 1830s, they brought the traditions of observing Puanga with them.

Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika, one of our iwi partners on this programme, continues to uphold those traditions and that is why we recognise Matariki mā Puanga together.

At the heart of those traditions, Matariki mā Puanga is a reminder that we are a part of the natural world, one that looks after us just as we look after it. It's the same idea carried in this programme's own name, Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi, which speaks to a relationship we all share with  Te Awa Kairangi / Hutt River and its surrounding environment, one that comes with a responsibility to care for it.

As Lee Hunter, the programme’s Iwi Integration Manager, says: “Looking to the traditions and practices of our tūpuna continues to guide how we care for Te Awa Kairangi and live alongside it, for generations to come.”

Mānawatia a Matariki, Takina Puanga.
Celebrate Matariki, Rise Puanga.

Passing on the passion

There aren’t too many year 11 students who would gladly get up before 6am during the school holidays to get experience on a construction site, but that’s exactly what Hutt Valley High School’s Blake Mudge did. 

As part of furthering his passion for mechanical engineering, Blake spent some time with the Alliance site crews on the SH2 Melling Transport Improvements project.

“I spent some time being shown around the site and all the different machinery being used. Then we went up to HireWays (one of the project’s machinery suppliers) where I got to help repair a tipper truck, which was really good.”

Blake says his love of engines started young, when he got into mini stock car racing. Learning to maintain his own car saved a ton of money, which he could then spend on going to races. 

His hot tips for young people wanting to get into the construction industry: “Talk to people, make connections, don’t be shy. Ask heaps of questions and you come away with all sorts of great information.”

Despite his youth, Blake has the next few years all planned out.  

“I want to finish this year at school, then go and do my apprenticeship and get qualified, then I’ll be off to Australia to work in the mines. Make some money, then come back here, start up a business and get myself a SuperStock car.”

With that kind of drive, who’d bet against him. Good luck, Blake!

Lessons in flood management

Greater Wellington recently hosted Hutt Valley High School year 11 geography students on a field trip along the banks of Te Awa Kairangi/ Hutt River exploring how we are working to improve flood resilience across the valley as part of Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi.

From stopbanks to river management, it was a great opportunity to connect classroom learning with real-world challenges, and to hear firsthand how communities are being protected now and into the future. 

Field trips like these help bring climate change adaptation to life, showing how planning, engineering and environmental care come together to protect people and place.

Thanks to the students and teachers for joining us and asking such thoughtful questions.

People of the project: Rhiannon

Rhiannon works for Higgins as a Site Traffic Management Specialist – they are the ones you see at roadworks sites with STMS on the back of their high-vis.

She’s responsible for leading the traffic management teams, and for making sure the temporary traffic management used onsite – cones, stop/go signs, automatic traffic lights, etc – is set up so you can get through the worksite safely, and so it’s safe for the workers onsite as well.

Rhiannon also does a bunch of planning as part of the Melling interchange project team. This includes doing an onsite risk assessment – that’s basically the part of the process where Rhiannon and her workmates decide what traffic management they need to use, right-sizing it for the job with safety front-of-mind as we previously mentioned, while still making it easy, clear, and efficient for you to get through the site.

This isn’t Rhiannon’s first rodeo with us – she previously worked on our Peka Peka to Ōtaki Expressway project on the opposite side of the Wellington region, so she’s got plenty of experience working on large, complex infrastructure projects.

Rhiannon transitioned into the construction industry around four years ago after working in customer services, with Higgins being her first on-the-ground role. Through on-the-job experience, mentoring, and additional study, Rhiannon progressed into a supervisory role. She says it’s one of her proudest professional achievements.

We are chuffed for her and chuffed to have her on Melling, and we love that she values the challenge and variety the project provides. She says having lots of activities underway at the same time helps keep the role engaging and rewarding.

Thank you for your mahi, Rhiannon. Slow down when you’re travelling through worksites like Rhiannon’s across the country, and follow any signs or instructions you receive from roadworkers to help keep our crews safe.

More information

Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi includes the SH2 Melling Transport Improvements project, crucial flood protection and river restoration work, and city centre infrastructure upgrades.

It is a partnership between Greater Wellington, Hutt City Council, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika and Ngāti Toa Rangatira.

You can find out more about current work that's underway here.

Otherwise for more information on the projects that make up this transformational programme of work, please:

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