Detour to lift by end of month
Relief from a major road detour is on the cards as stage one of the Te Awamutu water supply project is nearing completion.
A road detour diverting Te Awamutu bound traffic down Lamb St, Roto-O-Rangi and McLarnon roads, has been in place since October 1 when Waipā District Council started on a major infrastructure project to improve Te Awamutu’s water supply.
Stage one of the three-stage project is nearing its end, with the final connection to Kaipaki Rd taking place during this month.
The road detour, a health and safety requirement in place for workers on site in high speed and traffic-volume areas, is set to lift by the end of March.
“There will be stop/go traffic management in place while the pipes are placed underneath the road, but the road detour will be removed at this final stage,” said council’s water services manager Martin Mould.
“We would like to sincerely thank our residents, in particular those living along the affected Cambridge Rd section, for their patience and understanding.
“Installing 100-year infrastructure will always disrupt someone and the resilience and perseverance these residents have demonstrated during these works is nothing short of admirable.”
The news will be well received by Cambridge Rd residents who have been required to access their properties for the past 22 weeks through the detour.
The original timeline was extended by 12 weeks after the discovery of an existing pipe interfered with the new bulk water main connection at the corner of Parallel and Cambridge roads.
“The bulk main installation amendment impacted the work programme significantly. We needed to realign and provide additional structural support to an existing water pipe which was all unplanned, but necessary,” said Martin.
Stage one of the work programme will supply untreated water from the Waikato River to the Parallel Rd Water Treatment Plant through a series of underground pipes.
The importance of the $36 million project has been emphasised in recent weeks following the council’s announcement of Water Alert Level 4 for Te Awamutu, Pirongia and Ohaupō on February 12.
“Te Awamutu and Pirongia residents have been working hard to conserve water through this severe meteorological drought which has worsened conditions this summer.”
Council’s service delivery group manager, Dawn Inglis, thanked Te Awamutu residents last week for their conservation efforts.
“This is the first time in our history that we’ve had to move to a complete outdoor water ban in the district but the community have been fantastic and we are now starting to see signs of recovery in the dam for the first time since December. This project is greatly needed to provide additional water supply to Te Awamutu, Pirongia and Ohaupō which will also provide resilience in our waters network.”
Stage two of the Te Awamutu water supply project is under way on a number of roads between Parallel and Ohaupō roads. The new pipeline will bring treated water from Parallel Rd Water Treatment Plant to Taylors Hill Reservoir where it will supply the town. Stage three will be an upgrade to the Parallel Rd Water Treatment Plant which will increase capacity.