Fonterra looks at access to Kauri site

Fonterra and the NZ Transport Agency are planning to improve traffic safety on State Highway 1 outside the company's dairy factory at Kauri, between Whangarei and Hikurangi.

The dairy giant is spending about $1 million and the transport agency has earmarked $300,000 to provide better access to the dairy factory and improve safety at the merger of the passing lanes adjacent to the Fonterra site.

Fonterra has already moved a roadside house, power lines, a fence and removed trees to provide room for road widening work expected to start this week and be completed by the end of April.

Under-road detectors have been installed, which activate warning signs on the highway to signal when a tanker is leaving or turning into the site. New intersection lighting has also been completed to make the factory entrance more visible at night.

More cars on the road and a change to the road layout since the factory was built in 1989 have meant the area has become increasingly dangerous.

The safety improvement project was initiated by the death of a 3-year-old girl and injuries to a baby boy when the car they were in collided with a vehicle turning into the dairy factory in 2006.

The agency's regional asset manager, Steve Mutton, said the safety upgrade would include construction of deceleration and acceleration lanes for Fonterra milk tankers, so that they can leave or rejoin SH1 more safely; improvements for tankers turning right when they arrive at or leave the factory; as well as providing additional widening for a safe merge at the end of the passing lane.

"By working together, the NZTA and Fonterra will reduce the impact the improvements will have on the company's operations and on other drivers using SH1," said Mr Mutton.

Fonterra has 41 milk tankers delivering the 2.8 million litres of milk, which the Kauri dairy factory processes daily. There are 115 tanker drivers among the 370 on the factory staff.

Factory manager Warren Baddeley told the Northern Advocate safety was a key factor in Fonterra Kauri operations, and the company was working to improve conditions tanker drivers encountered on farms.