A jolly big job of rebuilding roads

Morton Rd roundabout under construction.

Rob Campbell

Waka Kotahi regional manager of maintenance and operations

How many sleeps till Christmas? While some want to know “Are we there yet?” for others, the holidays are coming all too soon.

It’s a busy time for all of us, but especially road workers who are undertaking the jolly big job of rebuilding or resealing more than 700 lane kilometres of state highway across the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

There’s a big push over the next month as we head towards the Christmas/New Year break. You can expect to see an increasing number of crews on the network, so be prepared for delays on a number of routes.

We appreciate this might be frustrating with Christmas shopping and extra social activities all adding to the daily load, but please remember that the roadworkers you pass are your neighbours too. They deserve to feel safe and respected while they’re working, like we all do (special shout out to Santa at the mall).

So, in the spirit of the season – be kind to road workers. Keep your sleigh on the nice not naughty list.

Locally, our key focus for maintenance is chip-sealing between Waihi and Ōmokoroa from November 27 until mid-December. There are 27 lane kilometres in total to be completed here. Anything we don’t finish by Christmas will be completed early in the new year.

We were as frustrated as you with the number of potholes this winter and the hard work now is all about getting better roads for winter 2023.

If you’d like to check out our interactive “forward works” map – it’s a handy way to visualise exactly where we’re working around the motu and plan your journey accordingly. (https://tinyurl.com/FWP2223)

Both of our big State Highway 2 projects, Takitimu North Link and Waihī to Ōmokoroa – are progressing well as the advent calendar counts down.

It’s exciting to see the three-legged Morton Rd roundabout in construction, and wider safety improvements on schedule and on budget.

The second of six new roundabouts, the work at Morton Rd intersection comes hot on the heels of the completion of the Rea Rd / Tetley Rd roundabout and is expected to be complete mid-2023.

Alongside the 14.1km flexible median barrier, which will be installed between Katikati and Ōmokoroa over the next three to four years, the roundabouts are about making SH2 safer for everyone.

We appreciate the work is disruptive and thank this community for your patience.

And while we’re talking of goodwill, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s focus is on improving and maintaining the roads we all use, rather than aesthetic issues. (Sorry tinsel and party lights.)

So, while we’re aware that the paint on Uretara Bridge could do with a spruce-up, it won’t make the Christmas list this year.

Having a safe and resilient season, however, is definitely on our wish list. And we wish this for all of you too.