Kia ora
Progress on our bridge structures was very visible in July with the delivery of the first T beams for Bridge 3 – the bridge that will span the railway once the track has been repositioned. The heavy cranes used to place the beams also made for a spectacular sight. More details on this are provided below.
On Saturday 14 July, the PP2Ō team, along with our translation partners Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rito, attended the 2018 Māori Television Matariki Awards where we were nominated as finalists for the Te Ururangi Award for Education category. While we didn’t win, it was an honour to be nominated alongside two other outstanding finalists, and be recognised for our innovation in bilingual signage. Thank you again to the anonymous community member who nominated us for the award.
If you need any further information please call us on 0800 PP2O INFO or email pp2o@nzta.govt.nz
Ngā mihi
Andy Goldie, Project Manager
Bridge beam milestones
The super T beams being gently positioned on Bridge 3.
The delivery of the super T beams for Bridge 3 (the bridge which will span the railway north of the Mill Road roundabout in Ōtaki following the rail diversion) is an important milestone for the PP2Ō Expressway.
Fletcher’s Construction Project Engineer, Helen Russell, responsible for the management of construction of Bridges 2 and 3 at the northern end of Ōtaki, and Bridges 4 and 8 at Rāhui Road and School Road, said that the delivery of the T beams for Bridge 3 was an exciting and significant sight within the community.
“While it is definitely exciting that the bridge construction at the northern end of Ōtaki is progressing, the delivery of the T beams and the machinery required to place them showed everyone the sheer size and magnitude of what will be constructed,” Helen said.
The seven super T beams, all approximately 22 metres in length and weighing 40 tonnes each, were installed on Bridge 3 on 10 July.
“Each beam took approximately two hours to install so it was a very long day indeed for those working on site.”
Placement of the first four beams was relatively straightforward, requiring the use of a single 350-tonne mobile crane. However, the placement of the remaining three beams required additional assistance from a 100-tonne crane.
Helen said that while Bridge 2 will be much larger with nine super T beams of 39 metres long, each weighing 70 tonnes, the steel bridges at Rāhui Road and School Road will be the most challenging.
“Bridge 4 at Rāhui Road will be a single-span steel bridge 50 metres long made up of five two-metre-deep girders. The weight of the steel for that bridge will be about 250 tonnes in total,” Helen said.
“Bridge 8 at School Road will be a twin-span steel bridge 84 metres long made up of four 1.8 metre-deep girders. The weight of the steel there will be about 270 tonnes.”
Elsewhere in the project another five bridges will be built, the longest of which -- the 330-metre Ōtaki River Bridge – will be constructed with 110 super T beams approximately 35 metres long and weighing 65 tonnes each.
Work on the Ōtaki River Bridge is well underway and will take around two years to complete.
The reinforced concrete bridge will be supported by 18 columns and will be the biggest individual structure we build.
Piling rigs are drilling 24-metre deep holes, 2.1 metres in diameter, through the river gravels for the bridge piles. Once the holes have been dug, they are being filled with a steel reinforcing cage to create structural support and then filled with concrete.
The piles give the bridge its strength – their depth and width creates greater surface area and friction which makes them strong enough to perform well in very large earthquakes whilst bearing a heavy load.
Artist’s impression of how Bridges 2 and 3 will look after completion.
Ōtaki River planting
Ōtaki River Bridge Engineer Craig Service addresses volunteers before they plant 1,000 trees along the river.
In partnership with the Ōtaki Surf Lifesaving Club, the PP2Ō project team sponsored 1,000 trees to be planted along the Ōtaki River, as part of a planting project organised by the Friends of the Ōtaki River group.
For the last 12 months, the Friends of the Ōtaki River have been working with the Fletcher Construction (FCC) Design Team on developing the Landscape Urban Design Plan and it was during this working relationship that the idea for a community-focused tree planting initiative along the Ōtaki River was developed.
Approximately 80 people from Friends of the Ōtaki River, the Ōtaki Surf Lifesaving Club, Greater Wellington Regional Council, FCC, NZ Transport Agency and the Ōtaki community participated in the tree planting.
During the event, participants also received an update on work happening on the Ōtaki River Bridge.
Clifden Cottage relocation
Ōtaki College media studies students talk to heritage architect Ian Bowman about the temporary shifting of the historic Clifden Cottage to make room for expressway construction. It’s currently sitting at the end of Old Hautere Road where it will remain until construction works are complete. Then, it will be moved back to the area it came from.
Construction update
North Zone (north of the Ōtaki River to Taylors Road)
Earthworks and construction continue for Bridges 2 and 3 (north-west of the roundabout on Mill Road). We’ve placed beams on Bridge 3 and are preparing to place beams on Bridge 2 over the coming months. The new bridges will span the realigned railway and expressway.
The western footpath on SH1 in this area has been closed and pedestrians diverted via the rail underpass or via County Road. To keep pedestrians safe on County Road a temporary footpath has been created and vehicle traffic reduced to one-way southbound. This diversion will remain in place for the next eight months.
Ōtaki Railway Station platform extension works have commenced. The staged programme will take around two months to complete. Please slow down around all works and allow a little extra time for your journey.
South Zone (south of the Ōtaki River to Peka Peka)
Construction of the new Ōtaki River Bridge is underway on the south bank with new bridge columns and crossheads starting to appear out of the river bed. These columns and crossheads will be completed in the coming months and you will start to see some beams being installed.
In August the team will be moving river gravels around to create a temporary platform to carry out the remaining two sets of piles within the riverbed, after which the piling rig will move to the northern side and complete the remaining piling works for the bridge.
Once the two remaining piers are complete within the riverbed the river will return to its natural course again.
The public river walkway on the north bank will remain open during construction but at times may need to be diverted. Access to the south bank is restricted around our works. For everyone’s safety please observe all site signage and stay out of work sites.
We’ve also started work on the new local roads that form part of this project and have stripped most of the topsoil between Old Hautere Road and Ōtaki Gorge Road to enable us to start work on the pavements. We’re building the local roads first to make sure we keep people moving around the district.
South of Mary Crest we’ll continue working on service relocations (gas, power, telecommunications and water).
