A 280-metre bridge to carry two lanes of northbound traffic over the Tutaekuri River near Taradale will be part of the project widening 6.5km of the Hawke’s Bay Expressway to four lanes.
The new structure will be built to the west alongside the existing bridge which currently carries one lane in each direction, but in the future will carry southbound traffic only in the biggest step to reduce the congestion which multiplied with the loss of the one-way Brookfields Bridge in Cyclone Gabrielle, and the loss for six months of the use of the Redclyffe Bridge, which had to have a span replaced.
The cyclone in February 2023 caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage to bridges in Hawke’s Bay.
Work begins next month alongside the existing bridge, with the section of the expressway between the roundabouts at Taradale Rd and Pākōwhai and Links roads, including the bridge and the Kennedy Rd overbridge the focus for Stage 1 of the four-stage project, says NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) regional manager of infrastructure delivery Rob Partridge.
Work has already started beside the Kennedy Rd off-ramp to clear vegetation, laying repurposed silt from the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, provided by the Silt Recovery Taskforce.
Funding was announced earlier this year for the biggest project on the expressway since it opened more than 20 years ago.
Between January 8 and March 31, crews will be taking the same approach further south, alongside the Tutaekuri bridge, with a temporary 70km/h speed limit through this area.
Road users would also notice a lot of activity off to the side of the northbound lane, including vegetation removal from mid-January and silt transportation and construction from the beginning of February.
Partridge said the Rotary cycle path and walkway will be slightly realigned in February and there will, at times, be work site trucks crossing a small section, with traffic management in place in the interests of safety.
There will also be night-time maintenance closures of sections of the expressway on January 20-25.
Crews will be sealing the Kennedy Rd on-ramp, sealing between Prebensen Drive and Taradale Rd, and between Meeanee and Pākōwhai/Links roads, and other work including median barrier replacement and lane marking.
The four-laning team will also take the opportunity during the closures to install a temporary steel barrier as part of the Tutaekuri bridge work.
Partridge said the work already completed at the Kennedy Rd off-ramp and the work at Tutaekuri bridge site will enable building of the approaches to the new bridge.
“The ground will be compacted and monitored over a period of at least 12 months, allowing the ground to settle and consolidate sediment prior to future construction works,” he said.
Main works construction is expected to begin late next year.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 51 years of journalism experience, 41 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.