People have their say on road options
People have a chance to give feedback about new options for the SH1 Cambridge to Piarere road.
The road has been known for serious and fatal car crashes.
New Zealand Transport Agency’s (NZTA) project team had been working on a short-list of options for the road.
The area had been broken up into three sections A, B and C with various options for each part of the new highway.
People could have their say on the options for the four-lane expressway October 26 at the Karapiro Taotaoroa Settlers Hall.
There were four possible expressway route options within section A, which begins south of Cambridge.
The first option was to make an expressway built north of the existing SH1, and a local access road would be built to the north of the new expressway to serve properties.
The current SH1 would become a local road.
Option two was an expressway built south of the current SH1, with access road built to the south of the new expressway for close residents.
The existing SH1 would then become a local road north of the expressway.
Option three would have the new expressway built over the existing SH1 with local roads to the south and north for residents.
The last option for section A was a variation of the first one, which provided an alternative alignment at the eastern end of the straight.
Section B was required to provide access from Karapiro Village and Karapiro Rd to the expressway.
Access would be provided from these roads on and off the expressway from both directions.
Both options avoid Karapiro School and are restricted by the Karapiro Gully to the north and the arm of Lake Karapiro, east of Karapiro Village.
East of Karapiro Rd there are four options.
The options in this section have similar topographical constraints, but one was initially close to the route of the existing state highway.
Section C heads towards Piarere and was required to provide access from SH29 and SH1 to the expressway.
Connecting to SH29 by Piarere Hall was the northern most option, with the second option south of the hall.
NZTA was considering a range of choices, from a large roundabout to an interchange that allowed traffic to flow freely on and off the expressway.
In December 2017 works to make the existing SH1 route safer in the short- term would get underway.
Vegetation would be trimmed along the route and fences near the Fergusson Gully Rd intersection would be moved, making it easier for motorists to see.
The project team aimed to reduce fatal crashes, improve travel times, improve network resilience and access to community features.
‘‘There were four possible expressway route options within section A, which begins south of Cambridge.’’