While the city is quiet and the weather is better, Hamilton City Council teams are out and about, keeping your water flowing and making your roads even safer in 2025.

Wastewater upgrades and water renewals are taking place across the city, as well as road resurfacing and rebuilding. This summer, our construction teams are carrying out 28km of road resealing, rebuilding six roads, upgrading or renewing 2.95km of water pipes and 2km of wastewater pipes.

One of our water renewal projects kicked off on 6 January - our contractors CB Civil began work to install new wastewater connections in Heaphy Terrace, and construct a new wastewater line along Boundary Road, as part of the Ranfurly Gully wastewater upgrade project.

At the same time, our water renewals contractors Waipa Civil began replacing some watermains along the same section of Heaphy Terrace. Carrying out these works in tandem means the closure of a short stretch of Heaphy Terrace until early February, along with lane closures on Boundary Road.

Three Waters Unit Director, Maire Porter, said allowing two projects to take place at the same time minimises road impact in the long term, creating better outcomes for residents.

“We try to keep disruption to our city residents to a minimum – over summer, schools are closed, some residents are enjoying time out of the city, and the weather is nice and dry, meaning our work can get done more quickly.”

Meanwhile, as some of our teams are busy making sure your water keeps flowing and your toilets keep flushing, our other teams are rebuilding and resurfacing your roads to make them even safer in 2025.

This January, a section of Hukanui Road from Elmira Avenue to the Clarkin Road roundabout is being rebuilt. Taking place in two stages, there are a mix of lane and road closures. Until February, residents will be able to travel through the area in both directions. From early February, a short section will be closed at night and fully open during the day.

Council’s Operate and Maintain Unit Director, Tania Hermann, says that summer is the ideal time of year for our teams to be doing this work.

“As far as we can, we try to do the bulk of our roadworks in January and February,” said Hermann.

“We understand that roadworks can have a big impact on those residents in the city over the holidays,” said Hermann. “We have a page on our website where you can see all roadworks and their impacts – it's called week on our streets. This page is updated weekly with information about what’s coming up, and we encourage Hamiltonians to check it before planning their weekly commute.”

Road repairs and maintenance are carried out by Connect Hamilton, a partnership between Council and Downer NZ. The construction season programme is budgeted to cost about $15 million, with 51% funded by NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.

Head to hamilton.govt.nz/weekonourstreets for road work information. For any information around buses, check out busit.co.nz.

To find out more about the Ranfurly Gully wastewater upgrade, visit hamilton.govt.nz/ranfurlygullywastewater.

What’s Up With Water?

Hamilton City Council is pulling back the (shower) curtain on the full journey of water - from river to tap and back again - in a new education campaign aimed at raising awareness about the future of water services for Hamiltonians.

In March next year, we’ll be asking for your feedback on our plans for water. We need to make sure high quality water services for our community are sustainable and are the most efficient we can make them. We know it’s going to cost more in the future, no matter what we do, so it’s important we find the best way for the long term.

Any change needs to meet new requirements from government, respond to growth in New Zealand’s fastest growing city, keep improving the way we look after the environment and our river, and address new challenges from climate change.

Curious how water gets from the river to your tap and back again? And why water services are set to change?

Find out at hamilton.govt.nz/dripdrop

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