Kia ora and welcome to the September 2018 update from the Transmission Gully team.
In the north, we are still working on preparatory works for temporarily switching State Highway 1 (SH1) over to join part of the new stretch of local road to Paekākāriki and the coast. We are building a section of new road that will run alongside the new motorway to provide a long-term route to Paekākāriki and the Centennial Highway. Find out more about the traffic switches.
South of these works we have been installing a major culvert beside Bridge 2. There are a number of large culverts along the length of the motorway that won’t be seen once the road is complete, but they are quite large pieces of work for the team.
Large culverts like this one for the Wainui Stream are significant structures that will be largely hidden once the road is complete.
On each side of the Wainui Saddle, we are continuing to work on the diversions for the Te Puka and Horokiri Streams. The diversions are built in sections and as each section is finished it is “livened” which means that we open the channel for water to flow through.
We have also been working on the major earthworks in the area known as cuts. Some of these cuts are very high, so we are “benching” to create stability and to meet the project’s stringent seismic resilience standards.
Looking south toward the Wainui Saddle shows the scale of benching at the top of the cut.
Aerial view of the flyover and one of the interchange roundabouts taking shape at Lanes Flat. SH58 is visible in the foreground.
SH58 interchange from above showing Bridge 13 interchange flyover and the west roundabout.
We have finished installing the beams on Bridge 13 and are now working on the steel reinforcing prior to the first concrete pour for the bridge deck.
Aerial view showing the launch pad in relation to the gully to be spanned.
The launch nose has arrived, and assembly is underway in preparation for the first launch. This will be a huge milestone for the project and you can read more about the process here.
Between the Mungavin Interchange and Linden, we have preparing to switch traffic onto new lanes leading onto the new section of bridge across Collins Avenue. This means we are focussed on getting everything done at the edge of the current motorway that we will be unable to get to once traffic is flowing on the new alignment. This includes permanent noisewalls and shoulder edge barriers, completion of retaining walls and of course, paving of the new lanes themselves. For safety reasons, some of this work is being done at night to allow lanes to be closed where construction activities needs to occur near live traffic lanes, and we apologise to nearby residents for any disruption this may cause.
Now this work is nearly complete, on a weekend in mid-October, southbound traffic between the Mungavin Interchange and Linden will be switched to the newly constructed outer southbound lanes, seeing the current southbound lanes closed to traffic and becoming part of a widened median past the Transmission Gully work site.
Over the coming weeks and months, road users in this area will notice significant progress, with work continuing in the widened motorway median, some of which will occur at night.
Find out more about upcoming traffic changes.
Noise wall installation on new south bound bridge
Kanuka seedlings ready for planting onsite.
