Huntly bypass opens
At 107-years-old Robert Moorfield can remember when State Highway 1 in the Waikato was just a dirt track through the scrub.
Today he’ll be part of the ceremony which will open the highly anticipated four-laned Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway.
But Moorfield won’t just be a participant – he will be using the
15km stretch of the new road at least once a fortnight when he makes the drive from his Te Kauwhata home to Hamilton in his white Suzuki Baleno.
A blessing and ribbon cutting of the $408 million project will be held this morning, but NZTA’s keeping silent on the exact opening time and day to avoid queues.
Moorfield still remembers when motorists wanting to take their car to Hamilton had it put on a train at Huntly, especially in winter when the road was usually impassable.
‘‘It wasn’t too bad from here to Hamilton, it was mostly flat. But from here to Auckland once you left Te Kauwhata it was mostly hills – until you got to the other side of Pokeno we called them the Rangiriri Hills.’’
The Huntly stretch of road has been four and a half years in the building. It’s the second to last section on the expressway to be completed, with work on Hamilton scheduled to finish late 2021.
Moorfield’s son Warren has been part of the Te Kauwhata volunteer fire brigade for the past 48 years and has noticed a decrease in serious accidents since the construction of the other sections of expressway.
‘‘In my time I would have seen at least 400 people killed on this stretch of the road either killed instantly or as the result of an accident, but that is less now,’’ Warren said.
The volunteer fire crews from Te Kauwhata, Huntly and Ngaruawahia along with Fire and Emergency Management, had a familiarisation tour of the new road earlier this month.
The visit helped the brigades to plan the response strategies that may be required for incidents on this section of the expressway.
The new road will take traffic east of Huntly town, up and over the Taupiri Range, and across lowlands to link with the completed Ngaruawahia section at Gordonton Road.
Waikato District Mayor Allan Sanson said the construction of the Huntly section has been well received despite SH1 now bypassing the township.
‘‘The businesses in Huntly have done extremely well out of all this expressway work and that comes down to the service industries from the tyre companies, fuel companies, the engineering shops even the food outlets.’’ Sanson said. Such is the interest in the new section of road Sanson said there were estimates up to 8000 people could turn up to tomorrow’s open day.
‘‘The Huntly one has driven the most interest because people can’t physically see the majority of it because it’s up in the hills behind Huntly,’’ Sanson said.
The mayor has been able to go over the new road a number of times during the construction period.
‘‘It is fascinating to get up there and look behind. There are some real gems back there and people will enjoy it for sure,’’ Sanson said.
It now means that what is currently known as SH1 will turn into a local road and will be given back to the Waikato District Council.
Sanson said that could help revitalise Huntly.
‘‘It gives us the ability to deal with issues like getting access off land areas we are wanting to redevelop.
When completed the 102km Waikato Expressway will run from the Bombay Hills to the south of Cambridge. It will cut travel time between Tı¯rau and Auckland by 35 minutes.