Waka Kotahi owner interface manager Grant Kauri stands at the Fill 9 site. The alignment of the road is visible as it curves up the hill towards a gully and then on to Manawatū.
It is hard to appreciate how much progress has been made on the new four-lane section of State Highway 3 between Ashhurst and Woodville.
Most passing motorists might only get a few glimpses of the Te Ahu a Turanga Manawatū-Tararua Highway worksite at either end as they wind their way across the temporary Saddle Road.
But, behind the hills the beginnings of a state-of-the-art road is starting to take shape.
The highway is on track to be finished by December 2024, despite a winter of torrential weather.
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DAVID UNWIN/Stuff
The weather has been wet but the highway is looking to be completed in 2024.
That was made abundantly clear as Stuff toured the site on a wet and blustery afternoon on Monday.
“For the whole project, we’re expecting to move 6 million m³ of earth and so far we’ve moved 3.3 million m³,” said Waka Kotahi owner interface manager Grant Kauri.
“This season alone, we’ve got a goal of moving 2.8 million m³, and we’ve already moved 2.6 million m³. So only another 200,000 to go.”
However, Kauri said the impact of Covid-19 was still being felt across the site.
“With the current Covid spike, it has had an impact, not only on us as a project with managing isolations, but it also has an effect on our supply chain as well.
DAVID UNWIN/Stuff
The first of three piers for the Parahaki Bridge over the Manawatū river takes shape. Each pier will carry all four lanes of traffic.
“So for us our aim is still 2024 and we’ll be assessing that as we go.”
The evidence was clear at Cut 13 on the project.
Where two hillsides were roughly level, a 55-metre deep trench had been carved through. While laying down the tarmac was a while off, it was clear to see where the road would go when it was finished.
Snaking between the Te Āpiti wind farm turbines, motorists would be greeted with panoramic views across the Manawatū plains.
SUPPLIED/Stuff
The highway will feature a four-lane road and has been designed to deal with freight, trucks and slow moving vehicles.
And across the river on the Ashhurst end of the road is the Parahaki Bridge; a balanced cantilever bridge that will be among the widest in the Southern Hemisphere.
“If you’re familiar with Transmission Gully, particularly the part where it rises up from Paekākariki, that’s what this road will be like. It’s the same gradient,” said Kauri
“So the alignment is designed with freight in mind and it’s also why we’re building a four-lane road, so that motorists can pass trucks and other slow moving vehicles.”
DAVID UNWIN/Stuff
Site supervisor Robert Graves says this winter has been unusually wet.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing this year. While the work was still on target, site supervisor Robert Graves said it had been an exceptionally wet winter.
While they had a maximum of 300 staff on site, Monday’s number was much lower.
“The boys are still out there in the wet pouring concrete but we’ve only got about 36 on this section.
“The earthworks crew were working until about 1pm but the rain just killed that. On this section, it’s just not safe to carry on in the wet so they’ve gone home.”
DAVID UNWIN/Stuff
The last of the earthworks trucks finishes up as work comes to a halt at Fill Site 9 due to bad weather.
Kauri said the teams would work around wet days and come in on weekends if need be to get it done.
The new route replaced the old Manawatū Gorge road that was closed in 2017 after multiple slips caused it to be deemed unsafe and subsequently condemned.
The new road was designed to be a more durable replacement for travellers between Manawatū, Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa.
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