Christmas is coming for Ngāruawāhia section of Waikato Expressway

Contractors are working day and night to get the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway work completed before Christmas.

That means all traffic will be detoured off this section of State Highway 1 from Sunday nights to Friday afternoons for the next few weeks.

Night closures and detours have been in place Sundays to Thursdays this month to ensure the big remedial work and safety improvements are completed by mid-December.

From this Sunday there will be full closures day and night between Taupiri and Lake Road. The timetable is:

Closes: Midnight Sunday 24 November. Opens: Midday  Friday 29 November

Closes: Midnight Sunday 1 December. Opens: Midday Friday 6 December

After these two weeks of full closures any remaining work will be done with traffic sharing lanes and the occasional night closure if needed.

Meanwhile, outside the closures, there are two other detours in place until completion next month. The southbound on-ramp at the Gordonton Road interchange is closed until mid-December. Road users were given no notice of this, and NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) apologises for the inconvenience this caused. The ramp had to close as all traffic has moved to the northbound lanes, but the ramp was closed several days before that for immediate work.

While the ramp is closed people need to use the detour route to go south.

Northbound SH1C traffic is required to exit at Lake Road, head south on SH1 to turn around at Resolution interchange and proceed north. The detour adds about 8 minutes to journeys.

Additional contractors have been brought in, so when closures are in place work has been happening on the northbound and southbound lanes at the same time, says Jo Wilton, Senior Manager Project Services at NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.

“We are aiming to have all lanes finished and open to traffic before Christmas, which is why we’re throwing more resources at this, working day and night.

“We have seen excellent progress in the past few weeks when all traffic was detoured off the highway at night Sundays to Thursdays. Now we need to make those detours day and night so crews have complete access.

“Road users have been very patient with the traffic management and detours while we repair and upgrade this section of the Waikato Expressway and we need just a few more weeks to get it finished,” Ms Wilton says.

“The big change ahead is the detours running day and night, so we ask people to plan ahead, look at their detour options, and allow extra time for their trips.

“As always with road works there may be disruption from the weather or other unforeseen circumstances, but by setting aside this amount of time for full closures, we’re confident that we’ve got enough time in reserve to ensure the job is done by our 15 December deadline,” Ms Wilton says.

The following schedule is listed on the Waikato Expressway surface works project page and drivers are encouraged to check this page for the latest information on closures and detours.

Expressway surface works

Outside the closures, two other detours remain in place until December 15:

• The southbound on-ramp at the Gordonton Road interchange is closed until mid-December so people need to use the SH1B detour.
• Northbound SH1C traffic is required to exit at Lake Road, head south on SH1 to turn around at Resolution interchange and proceed north.

Detour map:

View larger map [PDF, 471 KB]