The first panels have now been installed as part of a programme to help reduce motorway noise for residents living near State Highway 1 in Ellerslie.
The NZ Transport Agency is installing nearly 3km of concrete sound barriers next to the motorway between the South Eastern Highway and the Greenlane East interchange.
Concrete panels already installed, which are still to have the colour added.
The NZTA’s Senior Transport System Manager, Steve Mutton, says the barriers should significantly reduce the impact of motorway noise for residents.
“We’ve worked closely with the Ellerslie community to develop a design which serves their needs and also incorporates cultural and planting elements to minimise the visual impacts.”
One of the key design elements shows the highway as a river, with a blue/green colour theme being used.
The beginning and end of the Ellerslie section will be marked with a design depicting the sternpost and figurehead from a waka.
Three other designs are also used including a tiki, to symbolise guardianship and protection, a spiral which is commonly used in carved form to represent creation and another referencing tuatara scales, which are traditionally used as a warning message. The scale pattern is being used on panels which are near on and off ramps where drivers need to take extra care.
The noise walls through the Ellerslie section of the motorway corridor are expected to be completed by February next year.
More information about the programme to install noise walls is available on the project website https://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/sh1-ellerslie-acoustic-barrier/
