Work to install a stormwater pipe and New Plymouth District Council watermain along State Highway 3 at Waitara that began in January is almost complete.
Now that the weather is warmer, crews are planning to seal the road near the Princess Street intersection to enable the detour through Waitara for light north bound traffic to be removed.
Sealing is planned to start this Friday (16 September), but the work is highly weather dependant. In the event of rain, the work will be postponed to the next fine period.
It’s expected to take approximately three days to complete the sealing and motorists using the highway should expect some additional delays during this time.
Once the work is complete, the traffic management at the Princess Street intersection and detour will be removed.
All traffic will then use SH3 under stop/go traffic lights from approx. 200 metres north of Mamaku Road to approx. 400 metres south of Princess Street. Delays are expected to be no more than five minutes.
Waka Kotahi thanks the Waitara community and all road users for their patience and cooperation while the detour has been in place.
The stormwater works are part of Te Ara Tūtohu – Waitara to Bell Block safety improvements. The project is delivering to Aotearoa’s Road safety Strategy – Road to Zero and will see roundabouts built at four high risk intersections along the route, along with other safety improvements such as median barrier. Work on the Princess Street roundabout is scheduled to start this summer.
