A tunnel is being drilled through Napier - but as part of a project being watched with curiosity by hundreds - possibly thousands - of passersby each day, it won't be used by any cars.
Marked by a fenced compound featuring drilling machinery, a mud-mixing machine, shipping containers and a drain reserve, the tunnel site, on the intersection of Latham St and Douglas McLean Ave in Marewa is being drilled from the site to McDonald St, opposite McLean Park, as part of the Awatoto trunk main that was laid in 2016.
The several hundred metres have been drilled three times - firstly to line the direction, secondly out to 500mm and lastly out to 700mm, to enable the 500mm blue polyethylene tube to be pulled through, in a job that "excites" Napier City Council project manager and design manager Jay Dibben, who says it is the first time he's worked with the Horizontal Directional Drilling method.
The method was decided on to minimise impact on high traffic volumes in the area near the Latham St-Georges Dr roundabout and to minimise disruption for residents, he said.
Being done by Te Aratika Drilling, it involves installing the pipe by drilling a hole along a pre-determined path, then pulling the pipe back through, with the new main connecting to the "A2 Pipeline" that was installed in 2015.
