The view over Work Site Four's construction heavy machinery laager, with some of the last walkers heading back to their vehicles near Woodlands Rd.
The view over Work Site Four's construction heavy machinery laager, with some of the last walkers heading back to their vehicles near Woodlands Rd.
Pic: BTG310521WALK2 Caption: Walkers crest the ridge at the top of what came to be called 'gut-buster one', with Ashhurst Village in the background beyond.
Pic: BTG310521WALK3 Caption: View looking down over the new access road towards Ashhurst. From this point approximately half-way up the western face hikers look incredibly small. The view lends scale to the project.
Pic: BTG310521WALK4 Caption: Well in to their stride these ladies were well able to find time to chat about their impressions of the journey to this point. Unsurprisingly all walkers commented on how much bigger and advanced the works are. "I had no idea this much progress has been achieved" was to be the most common reaction passed on to the event's organisers.
Pic: BTG310521WALK5 Caption: At last the easy stretch. Heaps of smiles and good banter as walkers move across the summit worksite area at Cooks Road.
Pic: BTG310521WALK6 Caption: Woodville Lion Neil Brumby observes walkers as they pass his marshall post at the Cook Road worksite.
Pic: BTG310521WALK7 Caption: Te Ahu A Turanga walkers crest the ridge near Cooks Road. Beyond the ridge a steady but varying downhill section offered great views out over Woodville and the surrounding valley.
Pic: BTG310521WALK8 Caption: The view over Work Site Four's construction heavy machinery laager, with some of the last walkers heading back to their vehicles near Woodlands Road.
Pic: BTG310521WALK9 Caption: The team behind the registration desk, having processed 815 individual entrants on the day.
(left to right) Stephanie Bonser, Mandi Cavis, Mel Bolton, Shirley Hull, Nicolle Blyth, Maria Brenssell, Julie Candy and Sharon Jones.
By Warren Jones Woodville Lions
Woodville Lions teamed up with Woodville School staff, board and parent helpers to deliver a second chance for the public to Walk Te Ahu a Turanga, the new highway replacement for the now defunct Manawatū Gorge road, on Sunday, May 23.
More than 870 walkers from all over central North Island registered to take part in what might well prove to have been the last chance for members of local communities to experience the vast scale of this enterprise until the new highway opens in some four or five years' time.
At last the easy stretch. Heaps of smiles and good banter as walkers move across the summit worksite area at Cooks Rd.
Using lessons learned from 24 years experience of running its iconic Track and Tunnel Walk and having run a similar new highway walk last year, Woodville Lions and Woodville School were thrilled to partner with members of the Te Ahu a Turanga Alliance to produce another great experience.
Delivering a successful event on this scale nowadays is no easy task; the fact this one will see more than $7000 gifted towards the school's playground refurbishment fund, with an equal amount to be used underwriting the general charitable work Lions are well known for in our community, speaks of real success in the project.
Of course this positive outcome was only achieved through a fair bit of hard mahi, and a great support network. Facts learned on the day reveal something of the colossal scale of Te Ahu a Turanga; its stories and features being shared with walkers at waypoints of interest along their journey by staff and supervisors of the roading alliance team.
For instance, at this time more than 1000 cubic metres of earth are being moved each working day by plant and machinery already on site. In the near future this figure will grow to some 6000 cubic metres/day.
Equally interesting is the fact that most of the real heavy lifters are operating under the direction of highly precise GPS automation. Scrapers get cut height and direction information from the system, making possible levels of accuracy and repeatability that are almost beyond belief.
By day's end everyone had a great collection of good stories to tell; several of which we captured on the day:
"Thank you for the opportunity to engage in your Walk the Highway event on Sunday, May 23. I personally was so impressed at the number of tickets that were taken up for the day - this is such an amazing event for the communities of Woodville, and Ashhurst, too. Everyone that Darren and I engaged with were so happy to be able to do the walk again this year. The weather was perfect and enthusiasm was electric. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We are so proud of our project and love being able to share it with our wider community of neighbours." - Michelle Bishop, Te Ahu a Turanga Alliance Stakeholder and Landowner liaison.
(Michelle assisted Lion Darren Smith on one of the four medivac side-by-side RTVs generously loaned to the event. These were spread strategically along the route.)
All who walked the full 13km route from Ashhurst to Woodville discovered a whole world of new development, and laagers of heavy earthmoving machinery, ready to return to work on their tasks the very next day. Many commented on this.
"The uphill walk was a real hard slog, but it's been amazing to see how much heavy work is going on up in the hills where much of it it can't be seen from either the Saddle Rd, or Ashhurst either, for that matter. It's quite interesting to see where the cuttings are going to go; really makes the drone footage much more relevant now." - Ashhurst residents Owen and Veronica.
"Wow man. That trip was really amazing. The amount of machinery - and the huge changes since we walked over the farm track route last year, it's almost unbelievable! It's all so impressive; it will be an awesome drive over when it is opened. We saw lots, we felt we could get a strong impression of where the road is going to go." - Palmerston North residents Steph and Ginny.
Te Ahu a Turanga, the new Manawatū-Tararua Highway, is making its presence a visible and growing body of work. Even the very limited worksite areas visible from Napier and Saddle roads project size and scale that is quite impressive.
For the 815 walkers who trekked it on May 23, Te Ahu a Turanga is now so very much a bigger undertaking. A credit to all engaged in its design, development and construction.
