Waitara Rd roundabout safety work due to start next week
More than a year after the first roundabout was started, the construction of the second of four proposed to improve safety on Taranaki’s deadly northern highway is about to begin.
Contractors will start construction at the Waitara Rd, State Highway 3 and Raleigh St intersection on Monday with a temporary 50kph speed limit imposed for the duration of the project.
The work is part of the $82 million programme to improve safety on SH3 between Bell Block and Waitara, where more than a dozen people have died in the past decade.
The first roundabout at the Princess St intersection, which has led to delays and detours since construction began in March 2023, is still not finished. It also included a pedestrian underpass and was preceded by significant stormwater works.
The Waitara Rd roundabout and safety improvements to Raleigh St and Tate Rd, will be completed in five stages and are not expected to be finished until late next year.
Brixton residents spoken to on Tuesday said they understood the project had been through several revisions since it was first mooted. They agreed the intersection was dangerous and hoped motorists would be more inclined to follow the road rules once the improvements were completed.
Though there will be stop/go traffic management in place for a period from Sunday night while the work site is set up, the highway will remain open to two lanes of traffic from Monday.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said the first stage of construction would see the installation of new drainage pipes and a stormwater swale, the relocation of underground services, and the installation of temporary road pavement next to the northbound lane of SH3.
This is needed to allow traffic to flow in both directions as construction progresses.
SH3 between New Plymouth and Waitara is notoriously dangerous, with many uncontrolled intersections, but the path to a safer road has been a long one.
In 2018, then-transport minister Phil Twyford came to Taranaki and announced a $29m investment in urgent improvements.
Nothing much happened until 2020 when the speed limit between Bell Block and Waitara was permanently dropped to 80kph and several passing lanes were removed.
In July 2021, a further $53m was budgeted for the improvements to the highway.
Work was due to get under way in the summer of 2021/22 and stormwater works carried out at the Princess St intersection were completed in late 2022.
Construction of the Princess St roundabout, the first of four, began in March 2023.
Two further roundabouts at De Havilland Drive and at the State Highway 3A junction are also proposed as part of the project.
Waka Kotahi is also expecting to complete geotechnical investigations on SH3 between Mamaku and Waitara roads next week, work that is needed to develop plans for installing a flexible median barrier once the Waitara Rd roundabout is complete.