Expressway fix-up as lengthy as construction
Fixing the Ka¯ piti expressway will now likely take as long as building the Ka¯ piti expressway.
In the aftermath of the level 4 lockdown, the NZ Transport Agency has revealed repairs on the four-lane, $650 million road north of Wellington would likely be completed early next year.
As revealed by Stuff in January, the work — then nine months behind — was planned for completion by June this year.
The expressway has needed repair almost since it opened in February 2017 when slow lanes started leaking, resulting in discoloured cracks and changes in the surface texture along the north and southbound lanes.
Water leaking through a seal between the base — or pavement — and the asphalt was to blame.
With level 4 restrictions lifted, agency project delivery senior manager Andrew Thackwray said work had resumed on the expressway, with landscaping north of Te Moana Rd, Waikanae.
‘‘Asphalt mix design testing is also currently underway and, depending on positive results, road repairs are likely to begin early next month.’’
He said the target completion date for the repairs was early 2021, ‘‘but that is dependent on when work resumes between now and the usual winter shutdown period, as well as when we can resume work in mid-September following the winter shutdown period’’.
As previously reported by Stuff, the total cost of the repairs will be $25.2 million with 56 per cent of that, $14.1m, coming from taxpayers.
Work building the road started in December 2013 and it opened in February 2017 – three months ahead of schedule.
Thackwray said the opening of the next, already-delayed $330m Peka Peka to O¯ taki section of the expressway would be impacted by the lockdown and level 3 restrictions. The agency was working with the contractor to understand the ‘‘overall impact’’, he said.
‘‘However, it is still too early to say exactly what the impact will be. Furthermore, as we move into the winter months, this will have an effect on weatherdependent activities such as earthworks and pavement construction, which is likely to have an additional impact on our construction programme.’’
Initially the section was expected to be completed this year, but was pushed back to early 2021.
Once completed the two sections of expressway along with
Transmission Gully would provide a four-lane road from north of O¯ taki to the Terrace Tunnel, on State Highway 1.
The Gully project has been delayed repeatedly — with the opening date pushed back from April, to May, to November, and now, post-lockdown, till next year.
Ka¯piti mayor K Gurunathan said all sections of the new road were needed as soon as possible. ‘‘We need a kick-start to the economy. This is a key infrastructure that we were all expecting, especially Transmission Gully, to give our local economy a boost.’’
The longer it took to complete the network, the longer it would take to get the accompanying ‘‘economic stimulus’’, he said.