Progress on new motorway
Visible progress has been made on the motorway upgrade between Christchurch and Rolleston, with bridges at Main South and Waterholes roads nearing completion.
The work is part of the $195 million second stage of the Christchurch Southern Motorway upgrade, involving a new four-lane motorway linking Halswell Junction Rd in Hornby and State Highway 1 near Robinsons Rd in Weedons.
The existing section of SH1 from Robinsons Rd to Rolleston will be widened to four lanes.
The NZ Transport Agency expects the project to halve the travel time between central Christchurch and Rolleston from
30 minutes to 15 minutes and reduce fatal and serious crashes by 40 per cent.
It will upgrade the Weedon Ross Rd/
SH1 and Shands and Marshs roads intersections, which are both on the list of Canterbury’s most dangerous intersections.
Principal project manager Geoff Griffiths said work had been progressing well, despite the ‘‘challenges’’ of extropical cyclones Fehi and Gita.
He said the two new lanes for SH1 between Rolleston and Robinsons Rd would start carrying traffic ‘‘in the coming months’’, depending on weather. The two original lanes would then be upgraded.
Visible progress has been made on the bridge at the Weedons Rd interchange, with 10 68-tonne bridge beams craned into place.
Griffiths said the remaining 10 beams would be lifted into place once traffic had swapped onto the new lanes of SH1.
A bridge that will take Main South Rd over a new section of highway is nearing completion, as is one on Waterholes Rd. A bridge at Trents Rd had just over half of its beams placed in February.
A section of Marshs Rd between SH1 and Shands Rd was closed due to the works in January – though residents can access the road from SH1. Griffiths said workers were trying to add a left-hand turn out onto Shands Rd as soon as possible.
The most challenging part of the project is the Halswell Junction Rd bridge, which is difficult to build due to poor ground quality. Griffiths said piling work for the bridge started in March, with 16 piles to be installed over the next five months.
The project is due to be finished by February 2020, though Griffiths previously said there was a ‘‘desire to finish for Christmas 2019 if we can’’.
The first stage of the upgrade, a new four-laned motorway from Halswell Junction Rd to Collins St, Addington, opened in 2012. It cost $140m.