Hon Chris Bishop
Minister of Transport

In great news for Kiwi road users, the first season of the country’s most ambitious road maintenance project ever has seen 119 lane kilometres of State Highway 1 (SH1) between Tīrau and Waiouru rehabilitated or resealed, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says.

“As this huge maintenance effort comes to an end, I want to thank the truckies, motorists and local residents who’ve been so patient through the necessary traffic disruptions, and the NZTA contractors who’ve worked hard to improve big sections of New Zealand’s most important road, Mr Bishop says.

“These were some pretty sad sections of state highway which had needed an astonishing 5,670 pothole repairs over the previous couple of years. Making so many short-term repairs is inefficient no matter which way you look at it – you’re throwing good money after bad in repairing a road surface that isn’t fit for purpose, and in doing so you’re delaying people and freight from getting to their destinations.

“In many areas, NZTA contractors haven’t just resealed the road - they have used the full closures to completely rebuild it meaning one of New Zealand’s main freight and travel routes won’t need to be disrupted for repairs as often in future.

“The Tīrau to Waiouru project is part of the Government’s $2.07 billion Pothole Prevention fund and condenses four years of roadworks into two road maintenance seasons.

“We know the road closures along SH1 have been inconvenient for businesses, freight and communities, but they have allowed a huge volume of work including maintenance, drainage, road rebuilding and safety work to be completed in the shortest time possible.

“Drivers will notice the improvements immediately with SH1 now at a significantly improved standard. These upgrades mean the road is more forgiving if someone makes a mistake, with crashes less likely to result in death or serious injury.

“Across the Tīrau to Waiouru project, 32 contracting firms worked for over 110,000 hours. At the project’s peak, 145 truckloads of roading metal were being delivered every day across the closed sections of state highway.

“There is still a lot of work to do next season, which will begin in September this year. This includes the final surfacing on the sections worked on this season, and more maintenance and road rebuilding between Taupō to Tūrangi, and in the Tīrau and Tokoroa townships. However, the work between Taupō to Tūrangi will not involve a full 24/7 road closure and the final surfacing work will be done under stop/go and or at night.”

Notes:

The SH1 Tīrau to Waiouru project by the numbers:

• 119 lane kms (601,000m2) completed, including:
  • Road rebuilds using foam bitumen stabilising: 63 lane kms (318,000m2). This number includes a thin asphalt concrete layer: 6 lane kms (30,000m2)
  • Road rebuilds using structural asphalt concrete: 9 lane kms (44,000m2)
  • Re-seals using chip-seal: 47 lane kms (239,000m2)
• 198,366 Tonnes of aggregate used
• Up to 145 truckloads of metal per day delivered across all closures
• 110,000 roadcrew hours to date
• Zero time lost due to injuries
• 32 contracting firms on the go at once

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