A few days of adverse weather have meant that State Highway 1 between Tokoroa and upper Ātiamuri will reopen partially at midday on Friday 22 November between Kinleith and upper Ātiamuri.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi Regional Manager of Maintenance and Operations for Waikato and Bay of Plenty, Roger Brady, says this partial opening was the best solution for those using SH1 in that area.
“We lost more than 4 days of work since we started work in this area on 6 October – all because of rain. This is a large site spanning 17km with four separate work areas. We have completed 13kms of road makeover, allowing us to open the southern end of this work zone between Kinleith and Upper Ātiamuri, which we are sure many locals will welcome.
“We also needed to press on to get the next section, Putāruru to Tokoroa underway, as there is a limited time before the Christmas road-works moratorium comes into place on Friday 20 December 2024. The partial reopening means we can reduce the length of the detours and journey times.”
The new detour will now be SH32, Old Taupō Road, Kinleith Road and vice versa. Businesses and residences between SH32 intersection and just north of Campbell Road will still be accessible with the soft closure there.
“The northern section of this work, from Tokoroa down to Kinleith, has had an extensive makeover which involved milling out the existing road surface and replacing it with new material and adding a foam stabilised bitumen basecourse layer. It is expected this section should be open mid next week.
“Unfortunately road works are totally dependent on having good weather, and we just need a little more time. We think this work-around is a good outcome that most locals will appreciate,” Mr Brady says.
The partial section of road reopening will be under traffic management for a few days so the surface can be driven on to bed-in the rebuild work. Once the chip is adequately bedded in (the length of time will vary depending on the weather), the excess chip will be swept off, road markings completed, and the traffic management removed. It is expected this will be done by the time the rest of this section is open next week, again under traffic management while it is bedded in.
The final asphalt surface will be applied under night-time road closures starting Tuesday 7 January 2025. More information will be available soon about the impacts of that work on journeys.
The partial reopening means that at 5am on Saturday 23 November 2024, the next SH1 customer, Putāruru to Tokoroa, will close for its beauty treatment and a 15 lane-kilometre facelift. We could not delay starting this work, as the road had to be sparkling for the Christmas holiday season at midday on 20 December 2024 and there is a bit to be done!
SH1 will be closed to through traffic from SH1/Princes Street, Putāruru to SH1/SH32 Tokoroa intersection. All north and south bound SH1 light vehicles will be detoured via Princes Street, Arapuni Street, Arapuni Road, Waotu Road, Old Taupo Road, SH32 - Tokoroa and vice versa. This will add approximately 15 mins and 11km to journey times. There will be a temporary speed limit of 70km/h along the entirety of the detour route. Heavy vehicles are asked to take SH5/30.
The "hard closure" (the worksite) is approximately 13km long, from Vospers Road to Rollett Road. There will be a “soft closure” in Putāruru, between SH1/Princes Street intersection and Vospers Road/Ngatira Road, Lichfield. There is also a soft closure at the southern end, up to Rollett Road. While still allowing access to businesses and residents, these soft closures are in place to send those on longer journeys down appropriate detours.
Southbound traffic will not be able to travel beyond Vospers/Ngatira Road. Northbound traffic will be able to travel as far north as SH1 Rollett Road.
The first closure on SH1 was from south of Tīrau to north of Putāruru, with the rebuild work finishing on 4 October. We are coming back for one last step in the revamp - to lay the final asphalt surface - under night-time road closures from Sunday 24 November until Thursday 5 December, working Sunday to Thursday nights only. The road will be closed from 7pm – 6am during this time. Detours will be as before, via SH28 and SH5, adding approximately 8 minutes to journeys. We're looking forward to seeing the final result - a well-constructed road that is great to drive on (and admire)!
Work began on 11 November on Eastern Taupō Arterial and this section will reopen on 6 December.
SH1 between Tūrangi and Waiouru will close from Monday 6 January until late February 2025. More information to come.
To learn more please visit our SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru maintenance project page where you can also subscribe to our newsletter:
SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru maintenance
Completely closing sections of SH1 has enabled 3 sprayers to be used at once to apply the bitumen emulsion at a temperature of 85 degrees onto the foam bitumen basecourse underneath.
