Work has now been confirmed to begin next month on the rebuild and reseal of a stretch of State Highway 3 at Burgess Park just south of New Plymouth.
The work is scheduled to begin on Monday 16 September and expected to run for approximately 8 weeks.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) Regional Manager of Maintenance and Operations Rua Pani says the start of the season has come sooner than expected for Taranaki.
“We know Taranaki has a busy summer of events coming up and we’ve scheduled these works now, to minimise disruption ahead of the summer.
“The work will see this stretch of road completely rebuilt and resealed with foamed bitumen stabilisation in the road layers which provides a durable construction and allows faster installation over other stabilisation methods.”
Due to safety requirements, and the width of the machinery required to complete the work, the road is too narrow to safely operate contraflow (two-way traffic) in the passing lane area. Stop/go traffic controls during the day is not possible here due to high traffic volumes, which would result in significant delays and an unsafe build-up of traffic queues.
“We know this road has high traffic volumes travelling northbound towards New Plymouth in the morning, and southbound away from New Plymouth in the afternoon/evenings, so we're opting to switch the direction of the single lane closure at midday and midnight to accommodate those peak traffic flows and minimise disruption for commuter traffic, freight and public transport.”
Meanwhile, NZ Transport Agency is finalising preparations ahead of a spring start to safety improvement works at the SH3 intersections with Mangorei Rd and Junction Street.
At Mangorei Rd, a roundabout will be constructed, while at Junction St an intersection speed zone will be installed. When traffic is approaching SH3 from Junction St or turning right into Junction St from the highway, digital signs either side of the intersection will display a temporary SH3 speed limit of 60kmh.
Traffic management measures during these works have yet to be confirmed but NZTA and its contractor will aim to minimise impacts to road users.
The coming maintenance season will be a busy one for our crews around Taranaki and will focus on the resilience of our state highways, ensuring travel is as safe and efficient for all road users.
This road has high traffic flows travelling northbound toward New Plymouth in the morning, as well as southbound travelling away from New Plymouth in the afternoon and evenings.
The reason we are switching the direction of the closure at midnight and midday each day, is to accommodate the high number of road users travelling to New Plymouth in the mornings, and away from New Plymouth later on.
This approach also reduces the risk of “bottleneck” traffic flows along alternative routes such as SH3 north of New Plymouth and SH3A.
Road users are asked to plan ahead and take alternative routes where possible. However, the closures will be clearly signposted so road users can take an alternative route in advance of approaching the site. The alternative state highways are SH3A or SH45.
At midnight and midday, when the closure changes direction, there may be a short delay for road users while crews switch the traffic flows.
Typically, the roading construction season runs from 1 October to 31 March each year, however we have elected to commence this work early, intending to have it completed prior to various summer events to minimise disruption to road users.
Taranaki has a lot of important events from October onward, and we want to keep disruption during this busy time to a minimum for the wider community.
The work is a large undertaking and involves rebuilding nearly 2 Kilometres of state highway spanning 3 lanes.
It involves digging out the existing road material before replacing it with new aggregate which is then stabilised with foamed bitumen. This is then sealed with bitumen and chip to waterproof the road.
The site is carefully monitored and trafficked while each stage of construction sets to ensure a quality product. Once sealing is complete, temporary speed restrictions will remain in place until the site is swept and line marked during off-peak hours.
The work requires dry weather, and while it may be completed sooner, we have allowed for 7-8 weeks given we are commencing works in September and the weather may not be favourable.
