State Highway 1 between Tīrau and Putāruru has re-opened on schedule today (Friday 4 October), following the successful completion of work to rebuild the road surface during a four week closure.
The daytime closure between Ātiamuri and Wairakei will also re-open to traffic tonight at 6pm.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) Regional Manager of Maintenance and Operations for Waikato and Bay of Plenty, Roger Brady, praised the team effort required to achieve this.
“The team had some major weather challenges, and while there was some inconvenience to those travelling on SH1, we’re delighted that the rebuild work has been a success. Residents’ co-operation has been a big part of getting the work done as planned, we thank everyone for their patience.
“We still have some big challenges ahead with upcoming closures. This season we are rebuilding more than 41 lane kilometres of highway – that’s more than double the amount of rebuild work completed during the past three work seasons combined. This volume of work can only be achieved this quickly under full road closures. While the road is closed, we are also doing other maintenance work such as drainage improvement, vegetation clearance and resealing.”
For the two sections of highway about to reopen, there will be temporary traffic management and speed limits in place. The road needs to be driven on to bed-in the rebuild work, getting the stone chip to settle in before the final asphalt surface can be applied. This final surfacing will take a short time and may possibly be done at night.
“It is vital that the temporary speed limit is adhered to,” says Mr Brady. “The faster vehicles go, the greater the force on the delicate new road, and the higher the risk of the chip being lost. The wet weather makes this even more important, as the water can get pushed into the new road by speeding traffic. Unfortunately, wet weather extends the bedding in period.”
Once the chip is adequately bedded in (the length of time will vary depending on the weather), the excess chip will be swept off, road markings completed and the temporary speed removed.
SH1 also remains closed at nights between Piarere and north of Tīrau. This work is expected to be completed at 6am on Friday 18 October, dependent on weather.
The fourth closure, expected to be in place for up to 6-weeks, starts at 5am on Monday 7 October between Tokoroa, Kinleith and Upper Ātiamuri. This is the biggest section of work undertaken and is the longest closure so far. This site is one of the larger and more complex parts of the work programme, spanning 17km and encompassing four separate work areas, ranging from 2.9km to 5.7km in length.
All through-traffic, including those heading further south, will be detoured via SH32 and SH30 (also known as Maraetai Road in Tokoroa, Whakamaru Road and Ongaroto Road in Ātiamuri) and vice versa. This will add approximately 16 minutes (23km) to journey times. Local freight (those travelling from Taupō to Tokoroa) can use SH30/32, and freight travelling further north can use SH5/30 instead.
Tokoroa will still be open for business during the road closures, including those businesses located just south of SH32 such as Robert Harris and Subway. Access will also be maintained for emergency vehicles and residents. We need to advise the detour earlier to those on longer journeys so they can utilise the appropriate state highways.
For more information, please sign up for our weekly e-newsletter via the website nzta.govt.nz/t2w
The link below includes a video taken showing the work being done while the road was closed between Tīrau and Putāruru.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/2rFfnodEn6oPhKWB/?mibextid=WC7FNe(external link)
