NZTA approves $53m for road upgrade
A stretch of state highway in northwest Auckland has been allocated $53 million to increase its safety.
The money would go towards a new roundabout, extra lanes, safety barriers to prevent head-on crashes and extra space for pedestrians and cyclists between Brigham Creek and Waimauku, New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) said in a press release.
System design manager Brett Gliddon said these improvements to State Highway 16 would help ensure simple mistakes wouldn’t take lives or leave people seriously injured in future.
Between 2006 and 2015, four people have been killed and 30 seriously injured on this stretch of road, the release said.
‘‘Improvements will include extra lanes between Brigham Creek and Taupaki roundabout to help with travel times, a flush median to give drivers more room and a safe place to turn, and a roundabout at the SH16/ Coatesville-Riverhead Highway intersection to help traffic flow,’’ Gliddon said.
Flexible road safety barriers would also be installed along the 10-kilometre stretch of road.
These barriers help reduce road deaths by 70-80 per cent, the press release said.
The funding of $53m was
‘‘Improvements will include extra lanes between Brigham Creek and Taupaki roundabout to help with travel times’’
approved by NZTA’s board as part of the Government’s $600m Safe Roads programme.
Gliddon said the approval meant designs could be finalised and construction could start in late 2018.
The press release said the project would be carried out over three years.
The project between Huapai and Waimauku would begin first and was expected to take about a year.
The Brigham Creek to Kumeu¯ project was expected to begin in February 2019 and finish two years later.
To increase safety between Brigham Creek and Waimauku, some improvements include: - Flexible road safety barriers. - Extra lanes would between Brigham Creek and Taupaki roundabout.
- A roundabout at the SH16/ Coatesville-Riverhead Highway intersection.
- Speed limits would be reviewed to determine what is safe and appropriate.