Expressway start date

By ELIZABETH BINNING

Contractors are expected to start turning a 2km section of one of the Waikato's most dangerous highways into a four-lane expressway by June.

Tenders for work on the southern part of the proposed 12km Waikato Expressway closed this week. Transit NZ said it would award the contract by the beginning of next month.

Work will begin on the 2km stretch of State Highway 1 near Hampton Downs Rd soon after the contract is awarded.

Work on the remaining 10km of expressway will be deferred until extra money is approved for it.

Work first began on the Mercer to Long Swamp expressway two years ago, and was intended to reduce the number of crashes on the road.

Heavy traffic has made the road one of the most lethal. It brought a toll of more than 30 fatalities in eight years during the 1990s.

The project, which had a budget of $56 million,, stalled late last year when earthworks sank into the Whangamarino swamp. Tenders for completion exceeded Transit's estimated costs by nearly $30 million.

Yesterday, Transit revealed a $79 million proposal for the project.

Waikato Expressway regional manager Chris Allen said Transit had reduced costs by incorporating three existing sections of State Highway 1 into the new expressway plan and by contracting out individual jobs rather than giving all the work to one company.

But Transit needs an extra $23 million for the proposal, and is asking Transfund, the road funding agency, for the money.

Transfund chief executive Martin Gummer said the company had not received the application, so he could not say when a decision would be made.

"We have to make the assessment once we get the application, but we are certainly conscious of it (the expressway) as the Waikato's top priority," he said.

Under Transit's proposal, the expressway will be built in three stages and finished by 2006.

The first stage, the 2km near Hampton Downs Rd, has funding and should be ready for use by the middle of next year.

The second stage, depending on Transfund funding, will start in October and is a one-year pre-loading contract to build up land in swampy areas to prevent roadworks from sinking.

The third stage, completion of the remaining 10km of expressway, will be contracted out sometime next year and completed by 2006.

Mr Allen said motorists could expect quite a lot of disruption while the Hampton Downs Rd section was being completed.

Feature: Cutting the road toll

Are you part of the dying race?

Take an intersection safety test

LTSA: Road toll update

Massey University: Effectiveness of safety advertising