One of the largest and most ambitious maintenance projects undertaken in New Zealand.
SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru maintenance
The SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru has shown how a significant maintenance programme of road closures can be utilised to accelerate delivery of road renewals, alongside routine maintenance activities.
The use of closures resulted in significant safety improvements for the teams working on the road, along with efficiency and quality improvements gained from being able to renew the full width of the road at the same time.
Road users are also seeing fewer cones than usual, as they take well signposted detour routes. When re-opening roads and trafficating the new seal, the contractor has used innovations such as robotic arms to move cones, reducing risk and the number of cones used.
One of the biggest risks in road construction is exposure to live traffic.
By automating this process, the risk was significantly reduced, ensuring a safer work environment for crews. It improved efficiency, allowing teams to focus on the work at hand while reducing setup time.
Innovation has been a key part of this project, and two standout advancements is the introduction of the E-series trial and the auto-cone deployment truck. Instead of workers manually placing cones in live traffic, the truck deploys and retrieves cones automatically, keeping our teams off the road and out of harm’s way.
Having the road closed educed temporary traffic management costs and is allowed crews to work at pace in a safer environment.
While the road was closed, other work was also completed giving further opportunities to improve efficiency and productivity.
Extensive communication and engagement has taken place which has proved highly effective as road users and residents are being respectful and the detour route is working as planned.
