The NZ Transport Agency is completing the work necessary for designations to be put in place for a new road alignment between Warkworth and Wellsford.
The Indicative Alignment for Warkworth to Wellsford, the second section of the Ara Tūhono Pūhoi to Wellsford project, is now available to view online.
Public information days will be held in February, before the Transport Agency lodges an application for designation and consents later in 2019.
“Protecting the land required for a new transport corridor will ensure the route is protected for the future, although the start of construction remains at least 10 years away,” says the Transport Agency’s Director of Regional Relationships, Steve Mutton.
“Route protection for Warkworth to Wellsford will provide much needed certainty for property owners and communities who are affected by this project.”
The Transport Agency have refined the Indicative Route presented publicly in February 2017 to what is now called the Indicative Alignment within the proposed designation boundary.
As a result of further technical assessment and public consultation, there have been changes to what was presented in early 2017, including a new location where the new route will connect into SH1 north of Te Hana, and a shift in the tunnel alignment north of Warkworth.
The design of the proposed Warkworth interchange has also changed. The new design is indicative only as its final form and function may change in the future in response to changing transport needs in Warkworth.
Consideration has also been given to how the project might be constructed, including how the site is accessed and how large quantities of earthworks will be managed. This means the proposed designation boundary has expanded in some locations to ensure enough land is protected for the construction, operation and maintenance of a future highway.
The Warkworth to Te Hana corridor will join the Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway near Woodcocks Road. It will then travel on the western side of the Dome Valley until it reaches the Hoteo River where it will cross eastwards over the existing SH1 to an interchange proposed at Wayby Valley Road in Wellsford. Another interchange is proposed near Mangawhai Road, with the corridor then meeting the existing State Highway 1 north of Waimanu Road.
A map of the Indicative Alignment is now available on the Transport Agency website: www.nzta.govt.nz/warkworth-wellsford(external link) and further information, including dates for public information days, will be released in January.
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