Major re-seal work planned for Fenton St

A major re-seal of Fenton St will begin on Monday.

The Rotorua District Council is urging motorists to take extra care and be patient as work gets underway to re-seal a major stretch of Fenton St.

The scheduled maintenance work will begin on Monday from the southern end of Fenton St, between Victoria St and the Sala St roundabout.

Council works manager Peter Dine said, subject to weather conditions, the project was expected to take two to three days. Fenton St will remain open to traffic throughout, but there could be some delays at busier times of the day while sections are reduced to single lane traffic.

He said the stretch of Fenton St was last sealed around 12 years ago and was scheduled to be re-sealed this year as part of a planned renewal programme.
The work is co-funded by New Zealand Transport Agency.

"For technical reasons the new seal needs to be laid in summer, but we've slotted it into a period in between the recent busy Raggamuffin concert weekend and the coming Bike Festival period to minimise disruption as much as possible.

"We've also selected a particular type of road seal material to minimise potential chip loss and reduce noise.
"It's important that these roads are re-sealed before their surface starts deteriorating as remedial work would then require substantial foundation re-building and it would become unnecessarily costly."

Mr Dine said traffic management systems would be put in place to keep staff, motorists, cyclists and pedestrians safe.

"However, people might find it more convenient to avoid Fenton St next week where possible to minimise the chances of experiencing delays to their journeys.
"If you do have to travel down Fenton St please keep your speed down and exercise extra caution.

"Rotorua people are usually pretty understanding that these things needs to be done from time-to-time and that they can be accompanied by some inconvenience.
"We certainly appreciate the co-operation we can usually count on from our local residents."

Mr Dine said letters had been delivered to businesses along the affected area of Fenton St to alert them to the work.