KEY POINTS:
Contractors building a $46 million bypass to improve safety on the notorious Maramarua highway have experienced first hand the threat posed to life by speeding motorists.
Several close shaves suffered by the road-builders have prompted Transit NZ to impose extra safety measures from the end of this month. This includes the closure of two passing lanes to the east of Mangatawhiri, and an extension of the 80km/h temporary speed limit.
The lower speed limits will cover more than 2km of State Highway 2 east from Koheroa Rd and past Bell Rd, while the 7km bypass is built south of the existing road.
"Police will be paying particular attention to vehicle speeds on SH2 near Bell Rd once these changes have been made," Counties Manukau road policing manager Inspector Sandy Newsome said yesterday.
Bell Rd is the most dangerous spot for construction vehicles. A small section of the highway there is covered by an 80 km/h limit, but it does not extend to passing lanes which start within 100 metres of each side of the road.
Transit's Waikato regional manager, Chris Allen, said many motorists were ignoring the speed limit and truck warning signs, and accelerating past Bell Rd towards the passing lanes.
The agency is therefore closing the lanes for the duration of the bypass project, which is expected to finish in May 2009 with the opening of a much straighter route between Mangatawhiri River and the Maramarua golf course to the east.
It also intends to create a better-marked right-turning bay for traffic heading for Bell Rd from the west, including trucks carrying crushed rock from a local quarry.
Mr Allen said several "near misses" had already been reported, and the new safety measures would cater for an increase in truck movements to about 400 a day as well as 250 light vehicle trips.
"Removal of the passing lanes will reduce overtaking opportunities for motorists in the short term but it's important that we don't create an unsafe situation while we are undertaking work to improve the highway," he said.
He assured motorists that the completed bypass would provide them with longer permanent passing lanes, including a 2km eastbound passing lane from the Auckland end, and a 1.8km lane westbound from the golf course.
The bypass will replace what is considered the deadliest section of the 34km Maramarua highway from Pokeno to the Thames turnoff at Mangatarata, as eight of 23 fatal crashes along it between 2000 and 2004 occurred near Mangatawhiri, the village known for its "castle cafe".
Transit project manager Geof Berry said he was almost rear-ended while waiting to turn right into Bell Rd on Friday.
"I looked in my mirror and a car followed by a truck was coming down the hill towards me," he said.
"It seemed to be speeding and started to fishtail before it passed me on the left with the truck following it.
"I think he [the car driver] panicked because I saw his face in the mirror, and he looked horrified."
Mr Berry said an 80km/h speed limit now covering the highway section through Mangatawhiri village would be extended beyond the end of an eastbound passing lane up a hill towards the turnoff to Mangatangi.
But he said it would stop several hundred metres before the turnoff to give motorists some rare and reasonably safe passing opportunities.
He said it would not be feasible to extend the speed limit while keeping the passing lanes open, as that would defeat their purpose.
Although it took a year longer for contractors to get on the ground after a tendering cost blowout forced Transit to modify the design - mainly by shrinking the length of passing lanes along what will otherwise be a two-lane bypass - Mr Berry said fair weather had given them a good start over summer.
Earthworks have cut a swath through paddocks between Mangatawhiri River and Koheroa Rd, where a traffic bridge will be built over the bypass. Another bridge will take Homestead Rd, which branches off Bell Rd, over the bypass.
The project will end at a T-intersection at its eastern end, where traffic will be able to use an underpass to reach the Maramarua golf course.
