Media Release
Transit New Zealand
Hamilton Regional Office
Media release
23 May 2008
Major milestones reached in SH3 improvements near Te Kuiti
The repair of five slips undermining a 1km section of State Highway 3, 4km south of Te Kuiti, reached a major milestone this week.
Transit New Zealand has just completed drilling 690 columns on either side of Maraetaua Road to strengthen the underlying unstable mudstone, and protect the road from further slippage.
The columns were drilled down to hard rock and filled with a mix of concrete and earth to stabilise the slips.
Transit area engineer Gerhard Van Blerk says the section of SH3 near Maraetaua Road has a long history of instability, and subsidence of the road surface has been an ongoing issue.
Mr Van Blerk says, "These slips have been an issue for decades. Ongoing gradual slip movement has caused constant slumping and deformation of the road surface, which has required constant maintenance. The recently completed works will help alleviate this problem and motorists will find this section of highway much smoother to drive on when the final road resurfacing is done."
Transit hopes to complete the road resurfacing by the end of June. However, this work is weather dependant and may need to be delayed until October. If the resurfacing is delayed temporary sealing will carried out to ensure a safe driving surface over the winter, and a temporary speed restriction of 70 km/h may be put in place.
Earthworks for the new northbound Meads Hill passing lane, located 3km south of Te Kuiti, have also been completed this week. Unfortunately wet weather occurring at a critical time for the project has required the postponement of final surfacing until approximately October, which will delay the opening of the passing lane until later this year.
Mr van Blerk says, "It is disappointing not to have met our end of May completion target for the Meads Hill passing lane. However, the delay in surfacing will provide additional time for the road fill to settle, which will ensure that the finished surfacing will be strong and the sealing will have a good lifespan."
Further south, the realignment of SH3 in Awakino between the Junction Service Station and Awakino Tavern is almost completed. The 2.2km realignment has shifted the highway up to 20 metres in places, and has reduced the number of curves in the road down from 11 to 5.
The completion of the SH3 Awakino North Realignment project will be celebrated by the local community in June.
For more information please contact:Gerhard van Blerk
Transit New Zealand
Area Engineer
07 903 5125 / 027 297 5286
Or
Julie Hannam
Regional Communications Advisor
Transit New Zealand
07 903 5146 / 027 294 2649
Visit us at www.transit.govt.nz.