The Transport Agency says steps have been taken with its contractor Downer, to avoid a repeat of the traffic delays on State highway 88 between Dunedin and Ravensbourne this morning, caused after soft spots were discovered in the ground while old asphalt was being removed from the road over night.
Seven hundred metres of the highway from the Parry Street roundabout to the entrance of the Ravensdown Fertiliser Works at Ravensbourne, is being resurfaced during weekday nights and over the coming weekend.
Transport Agency Senior Network Manager John Jarvis says we apologise for the disruptions and lengthy delays road users encountered this morning and are taking steps to ensure these aren’t repeated. The soft ground conditions meant traffic was unable to drive much over 5km/h causing long traffic queues. When removing old asphalt, you can never be totally sure of what ground conditions you will find and that is what has occurred on this section of road at 6am this morning.
Currently delays on the road are around 7-8 minutes due to the uneven road surface.
Mr Jarvis said minor work is being carried out today on the traffic lane to Port Chalmers between the Parry Street roundabout and Ravensbourne, so it can handle traffic at speeds of 50km/h by 3pm this afternoon. However, because of the amount of traffic around with a cruise ship in Port Chalmers, delays of up to 10 minutes are still possible. We suggest road users allow up to 20 minutes extra travel time at peak times.
Overnight the focus will be on getting the Port Chalmers to Dunedin lane up to the same standard, so road users do not experience lengthy delays tomorrow morning. We still expect this resurfacing work to be completed on schedule on Wednesday 18 December.
