The NZ Transport Agency will begin repair work on 15.8 kilometres of the Mackays to Peka Peka (M2PP) Expressway.
NZTA Acting Senior Manager Project Delivery Karen Boyt says that following the opening of the expressway in February 2017, it became apparent that the road wasn’t performing as well as expected.
“Extensive investigations into issues on the expressway have confirmed the need to carry out repairs of the left lanes in both directions,” Ms Boyt says.
“We identified that water has been penetrating the road pavement, resulting in a discolouration of the road surface and changes to its texture.
“To address this, we repaired 8.9 kilometres of the expressway throughout 2018 and having now confirmed that the issue extends along the majority of the north and south bound left lanes, we will start work to repair a further 15.8 kilometres next week. This work is expected to take approximately six months to complete.
“Repair works involve removing approximately 180mm of the existing pavement layer and replacing it with asphalt,” Ms Boyt says.
“This work is weather dependent, so our timeline of approximately six months to complete repairs allows for some delays due to poor weather conditions.”
“We recognise that this is an inconvenience to road users and our stakeholders, and we will be working hard to keep people informed and to minimise impacts as much as possible.”
Ms Boyt says a further four kilometres of road at the northern end of the expressway has performed well and does not require repairs.
The Transport Agency continues to investigate and monitor the performance of the surfacing on the right lanes of the expressway. Investigations to date have not presented any significant issues.
For more information about the M2PP Expressway, visit www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/wellington-northern-corridor/mackays-to-peka-peka/
Plan ahead for a safe, enjoyable journey this summer. Keep up to date with:
