Tender to construct new roundabout at State Highway 1 andState Highway 5 intersection south of Tirau has been awarded.
The contract to construct the new roundabout at the intersection of State Highway 1 and State Highway 5, south of Tirau has been awarded to Schick Construction Limited, with the work expected to start in January.
The Transport Agency’s Project Services Manager, Peter Simcock says the contractor will be on site from Monday 13 January to commence construction of the new four-legged roundabout, a month earlier than expected.
Mr Simcock says an iwi blessing will be held to mark the start of construction and he anticipates the construction to take about four months, with the plan to have the new roundabout opened to traffic by Easter.
The new roundabout is being built to the west of the existing intersection and will make this intersection safer for the community and passing motorists.
Mr Simcock says the roundabout is a more forgiving form of intersection than the existing T-intersection, and encourages travellers to slow down when approaching.
This intersection has a long history of crashes and despite improvements made in the last five years including installing additional standard and electronic signs and improved line markings, there have been two recent serious crashes and one fatality near the intersection.
At present 11,500 vehicles per day travel through Tirau and the traffic splits to 8,000 continuing the trip south and 3,500 heading east to Rotorua.
