The NZ Transport Agency has started work to improve a high crash section of State Highway 1 in the Dome Valley between Warkworth and Wellsford.
The $493,000 project just north of Falls Bridge includes safety improvements to the camber and alignment of two curves, widening the highway's shoulders, a drainage upgrade and new signage.
The NZTA's State Highways Manager for Auckland and Northland, Tommy Parker, says this section of SH1 has been the site of 4 fatal and 18 injury crashes in the past 10 years.
"We are committed to continuing our programme of works to improve driving on this difficult section of highway," Mr Parker says. "While we have settled on our preferred route for a new highway between Warkworth and Puhoi, investigations continue on the best options to improve the Auckland/Northland connection further north. Until those investigations are complete, it is critical that Dome Valley upgrades like this one at Falls Bridge continue."
The improvements are the latest in a series of safety measures that the NZTA - together with the Police, ACC and local Government, - have undertaken in recent years that have had a significant impact on reducing crashes in the Dome Valley.
The NZTA says the Falls Bridge improvements will cause delays and drivers should allow more time for their journeys because stop/go traffic management is operating through the work site. The work is taking place during the day - Monday to Friday - although the final seal could be laid at night. There is no work at the weekend. The upgrade is expected to be completed by the end of May.
"We will do everything we can to minimise disruptions, but we do ask drivers to be patient for their own safety and the safety or our contractors at the work site," Mr Parker says.
