State highways across Hawke’s Bay will be buzzing with activity this spring and summer, with Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency gearing up for the country’s largest-ever road renewal season.
Between early October 2022 and April 2023, more than 134 lane kilometres of state highway will be resealed or rebuilt throughout Hawke’s Bay – more than 13% of the region’s state highway network.
“Winter is always tough on our roads, and the damage caused by the particularly heavy rain we’ve seen this winter means we have a big job ahead of us in spring and summer,” says Jaclyn Hankin, Regional Manager Maintenance and Operations.
“This renewal programme is one of the most significant we have undertaken. It’ll include more than 123 lane kilometres of resealing across 141 sites on our state highways in the Hawke’s Bay, nine rehabilitation sites covering nine lane km, 18 thin asphalt sites covering 2.1 lane km and 20 heavy maintenance sites covering 20 lane km on State Highway 2, State Highway 50 and State Highway 5. It’s a huge job, and we’re up to it.”
“The level of roadworks planned will mean travellers should expect regular and ongoing disruption to their journeys across the region.
“Because most maintenance work on our state highways requires warm, dry weather, there will be some level of disruption across the network throughout summer. However, plans are in place to complete this work as efficiently and effectively as possible, minimising the overall impact on people using the roads.”
Some of the ways Waka Kotahi and its contractors look to do this is by working with councils and community groups to take into account what else is happening on the network, considering night works where appropriate, packaging works to achieve as much as possible where a road closure or similar disruption may be required to undertake a particular piece of work, and stopping most work ahead of busy holidays, like the Labour Day long weekend.
“Due to the level of activity across the network we highly recommend people check the Waka Kotahi Journey Planner website before starting their journeys.”
Journey Planner(external link)
Nationally, Waka Kotahi is planning to reseal or re-build approximately 2,450 lane kilometres of state highway, equivalent to 10% of the state highway network. In 2021/22, Waka Kotahi delivered 2,100 lane kilometres.
Note: Lane kilometres are used to show the full scale of work being completed, and are more accurate than lineal metres, as some sections of road being renewed will have passing lanes or dual carriageway.
