Significant milestones coming up

• Author: Grant Kauri Owner Interface Manager, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency
• Published date: 23 January 2023
• Publication title: Bush Telegraph

We’ve got some significant milestones coming up for the project in 2023, but we should first acknowledge what we achieved last year

In 2022, our earthworks teams made huge progress, bringing the total volume of earth moved to 4.5 million cubic metres since construction began in 2021.

At Parahaki Bridge over the Manawatū River our team completed the first pier, while also completing the piles for piers two and three.

Over the river at the Eco-Viaduct site, the team completed all 16 piles and finished 11 of 12 columns for this 300-metre-long bridge.

The landscaping teams were busy putting more than 490,000 native plants in the ground, while our environmental team were out there protecting the native flora and fauna around the site.

This year we’ll be capitalising on the huge progress made so far, with bulk earthworks on track to be completed by the end of this season.

Earthworks have been mostly completed in some parts of the alignment, such as Fill 9, which can be seen up the hill from the Ashhurst end of the project.

This will be the site of the first sub-grade trials, which involve tests on the base layers of earthworks to make sure the pavement layers will hold up to large volumes of traffic.

At the Woodville end of the project, work continues on the eastern roundabout with a series of culverts being installed.

This is due to be completed before the end of summer, after which bulk earthworks will start in this area, so you can expect to see more earthworks equipment in this area as the summer continues.

Looking up the hill to Fill 20, earthworks will be completed here by the end of January, while Cut 28 further up will be finished later in the year.

We expect the first pavement layers on the main highway alignment to go down later this...