Commuter pain will be worth it
‘‘What we’re hoping and the object of this project is once it’s completed there will be alternative routes.’’ Mark Moonsamy
Short term pain as one of Hamilton’s busiest commuter roads gets remade will be worth it, Hamilton City Council says.
When complete, the $45 million Cobham Drive interchange with Wairere Drive will form a key piece of infrastructure for southern suburbs.
‘‘Wairere Dr currently stops at Cambridge Rd and this is the last phase now to extend it all the way to Cobham Drive to create an intersection and then from there it will go into the Peacocke development, so it opens a whole new corridor in the transport network,’’ council transportation programme manager Mark Moonsamy said.
The finished product will see Cobham Drive raised by six metres and Wairere Drive will go underneath via a bridge. There will also be an intersection with on and off-ramps.
"The reason that Wairere Drive has to stay at a similar level is for the new bridge on Peacockes side so we don’t have a huge level difference.’’
To allow this work to happen it has meant there will be a ninemonth disruption on Cobham Dr with a section of the State Highway 1 down to three lanes, two going north and one south, while the speed limit has also dropped from 80km to 50km.
After the ramps have been constructed, Moonsamy said the traffic will be diverted onto them leaving Cobham Dr void of traffic and construction of the bridge will proceed.
He acknowledges there is already an issue with congestion at peak times without the work being undertaken.
‘‘What we’re hoping and the object of this project is once it’s completed there will be alternative routes, people going through Wairere instead of going all the way onto Cobham and into town, so it will improve the traffic significantly.’’
He does ask that motorists are patient during construction and consider alternatives.
‘‘The team is working hard to try and accommodate the traffic coming through the area but our message to the road users is please take care, we want to make sure the road users and the construction workers are safe during this period.’’
Completion of the project is scheduled for early 2022 but there is still a significant amount of work to be done and Moonsamy is conscious that they need to get as much work done now as they will be limited during winter.
The majority of the work will be done during the day through contractor Fulton Hogan.
‘‘The project started in November 2018 but prior to that we had enabling work on either side of Cobham Dr – so a contractor came and did a lot of preparation work and then the main contractor Fulton Hogan started in November 2018.’’
The road upgrade is a partnership with the New Zealand Transport Agency, which is funding 75 per cent of the project and the council is picking up the remaining 25 per cent.
The finished product will be 180,000 cubic metres of earthworks undertaken, along with three kilometres of drainage. There will be two kilometres of shared footpaths for walking and cycling, 120 new streetlights will be installed along with 38,000 plants.