Tree removal will take place on Cobham Drive to prepare for the last stage of Hamilton's ring road. Photo / Hamilton City Council
Tree removal will take place on Cobham Drive to prepare for the last stage of Hamilton's ring road. Photo / Hamilton City Council
A section of Cobham Drive, between Cambridge Rd and Galloway St, will be closed to vehicles from Saturday March 30 and Sunday March 31. The closures will start at 7am on both mornings with the road reopening each evening at 7pm.
Motorists driving in the Hamilton East-Hillcrest area this weekend are urged to plan ahead and prepare for major delays due to tree removal work happening in the area.
The removal of the trees, which will be replaced once construction has finished, is to allow for the on and off-road ramps for the Ring Road-Wairere Dr extension to be built.
"This is a complex and large-scale job for the team of arborists: these are big trees and their size means a crane is needed to pull out the trees being removed."
"To comply with the health and safety requirements we must close this section of Cobham Dr and undertake the felling during daylight hours," says Hamilton City Council capital projects manager Chris Barton.
"A number of these trees also pose challenges as they could be sheltering roosting bats for the night.
"Long-tailed bats are a native to New Zealand and in order to cut down any of these potential bat habitat trees, we must comply with our department of conservation wildlife permit, and several conditions must be met including dusk temperatures, maximum wind and wind gust readings, maximum rainfall received, and away from a full moon.
"It's also important to the project we undertake this work prior to winter. If the weather conditions do not allow for felling to occur on the planned weekend the team will try for the following weekend of 6 and 7 April," says Mr Barton.
There will be a city-street detour route in place during the closure but anyone in the Hamilton East-Hillcrest area is advised to avoid the roads around the closure and avoid using Cambridge Rd. Inter-regional travellers should consider alternative routes including SH1B and SH21.
Access for residents, businesses and Hamilton Gardens will be maintained and bus routes will not be affected, however road users may experience delays given the high volume of traffic on the alternative routes and local roads.
The Ring Road-Wairere Dr extension is being jointly funded by the council and the NZ Transport Agency and will see Cobham Dr raised to allow the four-laned Wairere Dr to pass underneath it and enable connection to the future bridge over the Waikato River to Peacocke.
Safety upgrades at key city intersections are also underway. Photo / Hamilton City Council
Work has also started on Monday 25 March at the Anzac Pde/Memorial Dr intersection and at the Killarney Rd/Ellis St intersection to improve safety for people who walk or bike through these busy areas.
The upgrades are part of HCC's $4.5M of road safety improvements planned this year to make it safer for people to get around our growing city by bike, walking or bus.
The Anzac Pde/Memorial Dr intersection will be upgraded with a wider footpath and a new raised platform for pedestrians. The footpath on the approach to Memorial Drive from the city centre will be widened to slow turning traffic and the new platform will help people cross more safely at this intersection. The cycle lane will also be repainted.
To allow this work to be done traffic will be unable to turn left or right into Memorial Ave from Anzac Pde. Detours will be in place to take traffic down Grey and Te Aroha Sts during working hours of 7am to 6pm. This will be carried out from Monday 25 March to Thursday 18 April.
To improve safety at the Killarney Rd/Ellis St intersection pedestrian refuge islands will be installed, footpaths widened and an accessible raised kerb installed at one of the Killarney Rd bus stops. This work will run from Monday 25 March to Friday 12 April and stop/go may be in place at times during installation of the refuge islands.
In Hamilton's CBD, the Grantham St carpark and boat ramp will also be closed to the public for two weeks to allow for improvement work.
The existing asphalt will be removed, and any levelling to repair base course below the asphalt will be undertaken. Once any base course remediation is completed, new asphalt will be laid.
The Grantham Street carpark will be closed for two weeks to allow for scheduled upgrades. Photo / Hamilton City Council
No vehicles will be allowed into the carpark or boat ramp while this work is done.
The Pukete boat ramp will be available for boat owners wishing to launch their vessels into the river.
Work starts on Monday 25 March at the Anzac Pde/Memorial Dr intersection and at the Killarney Rd/Ellis St intersection to improve safety for people who walk or bike through these busy areas.
