KEY POINTS:
A rail level-crossing on which a couple died when their car was hit by a train will be eliminated as part of a $10.5 million highway realignment project starting this week.
South African migrants Brent and Renee Coombes were driving north through the Ohingaiti crossing on State Highway 1, south of Taihape, in July when a goods train smashed into their car.
Their daughter Reef, then aged 5, was unhurt in a back seat and now lives in Auckland with an aunt and uncle.
One of her last memories before the crash, for which a coroner said he considered neither Mr Coombes nor the train driver were to blame, was of her parents complaining of being dazzled by early morning sunshine.
Although many cars have lost control on 90-degree road corners approaching each side of the crossing, which is on an S-bend with a recommended traffic speed of 25km/h, Transit NZ says it is unaware of any other crashes there involving trains.
But Wanganui regional manager Errol Christiansen said it had already planned before July's crash to abolish the crossing as part of a 3.6km realignment of what was a dangerous section of highway between Ohingaiti and the steep and winding road on Makohine Hill to its south.
That followed a regional land transport committee recommendation to bring the project forward by a year, as its top priority.
Two other fatal crashes among 113 accidents since 1997 have been on the hill itself, including one on a sharp bend with a recommended traffic speed of 55km/h near its summit.
Mr Christiansen said that instead of having to turn sharp left and then right at the level crossing, southbound traffic would from 2011 travel straight ahead at Ohingaiti and over a new rail tunnel into a 30m cutting through the hill, which would replace the bend with a more direct and safer route.
"The hill can be pretty treacherous, particularly at night," he said.
"The end result will be a no-surprises stretch of highway which will significantly reduce the risk of crashes."
It would allow traffic to travel at the 100km/h speed limit throughout the section, which would also have a northbound passing lane on the new Makohine Hill alignment.
The project would include a three-span bridge on the hill's southern approach, over Makohine Stream, which would also be realigned.
Transit says it is working with local iwi and the Horizons Regional Council on a native planting scheme to beautify the area, and a rest area at the base of the hill will be improved to make the most of the landscape and a view of the Makohine railway viaduct, below which the stream flows.
Transport Minister Annette King will turn the first sod of the project on Wednesday.
