Work to resurface a significant section of State Highway 1 near Maungatautari Road, south of Cambridge, is smoothing the path for road users of this busy stretch of road.
Following tree-felling activities last week to remove a stand of trees that posed a risk to road users, surfacing work has been taking place at night. However, with night temperatures starting to drop below the threshold allowed for laying asphalt, the operation will be moving to a day-time activity from Monday 9 May.
Waka Kotahi acknowledges there were delays to road users when SH1 was fully closed to allow the tree felling to take place in a safe and effective environment. As such, to minimise disruption to road users while the surfacing work takes place, only southbound traffic will be detoured off SH1 between the hours of 9am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.
Traffic will be diverted via Karapiro Road, Taotaoroa Road and State Highway 29. Northbound traffic will continue to use SH1 as normal, with a temporary speed limit in place to ensure the safety of crew and road users. This work is expected to take up to two weeks to complete, weather permitting.
In conjunction with this work the installation of 1.6km of median barrier will commence on Sunday 15 May, with work taking place at night between the hours of 7pm and 6am. During this time stop/go traffic management will be in place, with an associated temporary speed limit.
This installation follows on from the installation of 2.5km median barrier between Fergusson Gully Road and Keeleys Reserve in December 2020. Waka Kotahi has seen the value of this installation already, with the barrier hit 40 times over the past 18 months – that’s 40 potential head-on crashes that have been avoided. Through this work the northbound passing lane will also be removed.
Waka Kotahi has a vision of zero deaths and serious injuries on New Zealand roads. Continually managing and maintaining roads, along with installing improvements such as better road marking layouts and median barriers where possible, play a part in the safe system approach that underpins turning this vision into reality.
