PRIVATE Transport

[Kane007]

Section A - Johnstone's Hill to Puhoi

Major earthworks are now under way for the 2007/2008 earthworks season.
Works completed this season include:

* Retaining walls at the top of Johnstone’s Hill complete
* Retaining wall at the base of Johnstone’s Hill
* Cut for the tunnels utility building

Upcoming works this season include:

* Completion of the southbound carriageway
* Titford’s Bridge safety improvements
* Stockpiled tunnel rock to be taken across the Waiwera Viaduct for use elsewhere onsite

BELOW: Southern portal area, November 2007.


BELOW: Northern portal area, November 2007.

Section B - Otanerua to Waiwera Bridge

Major earthworks are now underway for the 2007/2008 earthworks season.
Works completed this season include:

* Installation of 1350 diameter culvert for final gully fill
* Continuation of Chin Hill cut – 300,000 cubic metres remaining

Upcoming works this season include:

* Completion of 55-metre deep, 1.3 million cubic metre cut through Chin Hill
* 26,000 cubic metres of fill to be placed in the pre-cast yard area
* Final gully fill (240,000 cubic metres)

BELOW: View (looking north) of the major gully fills in Section B, November 2007.

Section C - Nukumea to Otanerua

Major earthworks are now underway for the 2007/2008 earthworks season.
Works completed this season include:

* Completion of massive fill in the Otanerua Valley
* Finished shaping and planting batter slopes

Upcoming works this season include:

* Construction of permanent storm water pond
* Earthworks to the south of the Otanerua Viaduct

BELOW: Earthworks in the Otanerua Valley, November 2007.

Section D - Orewa to Nukumea

Major earthworks are now underway for the 2007/2008 earthworks season.
Works completed this season include:

* Completion of the fill to the north of the Grand Drive round-a-bout
* Cutting through the West Hoe ridgeline

Upcoming works this season include:

* Pavement to be laid around Orewa Interchange
* Completion of network drainage
* Cutting beneath Hillcrest Bridge

BELOW: Aerial view of the Orewa Interchange site, November 2007.


BELOW: Aerial view of the cut through the West Hoe ridge, November 2007.


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Johnstone's Hill Twin Tunnels

Excavation of the Johnstone's Hill twin tunnels began in February 2006 and on August 2 the top-heading (top half) of the southbound tunnel was completed. Breakthrough of the northbound tunnel was achieved one month ahead of schedule on November 23, 2006. The tunnels have now been excavated to their full 12-metre wide profile.

Installation of the permanent concrete lining has been completed in both tunnels and work now focuses on the cut and cover sections at the tunnel portals and installation of cable trays and lighting.

BELOW: Installation of cable trays and lighting in the northbound tunnel


Orewa Interchange

The Orewa Interchange Bridge is nearing completion with only barriers and wing-walls to be constructed.

BELOW: The Orewa Interchange bridge, November 2007.


Nukumea Eco-viaduct

As of late October 2007 construction of the Nukumea Eco-viaduct is essentially complete. Dump trucks are now using the viaduct to transport material across site; the remaining work is concerned with barriers and expansion joints.

BELOW: Nukumea Eco-viaduct, October 2007.


Hillcrest Bridge

The super-structure for Hillcrest Bridge is complete and the permanent raking piers have been installed. A further 10-metres will be excavated beneath the bridge over the 07/08 earthworks season.

BELOW: Hillcrest Bridge, November 2007


Otanerua Eco-viaduct

The Otanerua Eco-Viaduct is essentially complete. Both guardrails are finished and work is currently concentrating on drainage. Dump trucks are now hauling material across the viaduct to use elsewhere on site.

BELOW: Otanerua Eco-viaduct, November 2007


Waiwera Viaduct

Segment construction for the Waiwera Viaduct has now finished with the last segment poured on 19 December. The viaduct is currently around 75% complete, with 270 out of 356 segments erected. The western viaduct is due to touch land in late January 2008.

BELOW: Waiwera Viaduct under construction, November 2007.

[GoluBoy]

Excuse my ignorance....but how long are teh tunnels?

BTW: I love the Waiwera Viaduct - That's definately got total "ownage" appeal through the native bush.

[Svartmetall]

Thanks for the updates Kane!

[Kane007]

Originally Posted by Utopia2007

Excuse my ignorance....but how long are teh tunnels?

BTW: I love the Waiwera Viaduct - That's definately got total "ownage" appeal through the native bush.

Two parallel tunnels each tunnel 345 metres long.

* Tunnel width 12 metres
* Tunnel height 9 metres

The Waiwera Viaduct is going to be such a joy to drive, high above the forest canopy.

[GoluBoy]

Thnx

[Classic Man]

Banksie Wanskie needs to push it to the limit and seriously conisder more roads! I like private transport - I like being in the comfort and privacy of my own car, and doing things I couldn't do on public transport while in my own car. I do undersand that many like buses and trains, and more power to them, but I'll always prefer driving a good old fashioned SUV. They can have as many buses, trains and planes as they want, but a good percentage of the population will prefer to stick their bums in their own cars and not on seats covered with strawberry chewing gum! Over and out.

[Svartmetall]

Originally Posted by Classic Man

Banksie Wanskie needs to push it to the limit and seriously conisder more roads! I like private transport - I like being in the comfort and privacy of my own car, and doing things I couldn't do on public transport while in my own car. I do undersand that many like buses and trains, and more power to them, but I'll always prefer driving a good old fashioned SUV. They can have as many buses, trains and planes as they want, but a good percentage of the population will prefer to stick their bums in their own cars and not on seats covered with strawberry chewing gum! Over and out.

Winner - best post for 2007 in the catagory of "how to demonstrate the 'I'm alright Jack, screw environmental awareness' attitude in 500 words or less"!

[GoluBoy]

lol

[jarbury]

Don't you guys remember Classic Man's tendency for trolling? I'm surprised he hasn't been banned. He's just trying to wind us up. Best to just ignore him.

Great updates on ALPURT B2 Kane. Still on track for completion at the end of '08?

[MonsieurAquilone]

That said, I think anybody is still entitled to a car. No matter how much I am making an effort to use public transport, I won't be condescending about it. (By no way am I implying that you guys are condescending.)

[Kane007]

I too am a fan of PT, but the car is a necessity, for me at least.

When I was working and had contracts in the CBD I would use the busway to and from Albany. But to get to Omaha, only way is by car. Yes I've cycled between Birkenhead and PIHA but I'm not carrying my 2 and 5 year olds on my road bike with me - that's just toooo hard .

[Kane007]

Christmas Dinner at my Mum's so did SH18 again - such a joy even if 1km longer than the Harbour Bridge - any way, meandering again....

Cruising along Glenfield Rd, just after the intersection with Hogans and Manuka and low and behold the council has a couple of big ass road signs up -

MASSIVE ROADWORKS
starts 07 January 08
lasts 38 weeks.

This can only mean stage 3 and hopefully 4 of the Glenfield Rd upgrade is underway!

[GoluBoy]

Bridge sealing shuts northbound clip-ons

5:00AM Wednesday December 26, 2007
By Mathew Dearnaley




Motorists may face extra delays on the Auckland Harbour Bridge today as Transit New Zealand starts re-sealing the elderly structure's two northbound clip-on lanes.

Northbound ramps, to the bridge from Curran St in St Marys Bay and off it to Stafford Rd in Northcote, will close until the lanes reopen on Sunday, January 6 - weather permitting.

Transit NZ says that although three remaining bridge lanes in each direction should cope with most of the lighter post-Christmas traffic, there may be "small" delays.

A similar resealing project caused problems after the bridge's southbound clip-on lanes were closed on Christmas Eve last year.

That led to delays for motorists heading for Christmas lunch gatherings across the bridge the next day, prompting a later start for this summer's programme.

Even yesterday afternoon, traffic was reduced to a crawl on the bridge's northbound approach as families headed across the harbour to visit friends and relatives or to reach holiday spots.


Transit regional manager Peter Spies said the work was scheduled for "the least busy time of year".

Motorists who normally join the bridge from Curran St will be directed by signs to the Fanshawe St on-ramp.

"Provided people are aware of the closures and ensure they leave enough time for their journey, traffic should stay flowing well in both directions," Mr Spies said. "Weather permitting, the bridge will be fully opened before most Aucklanders return from their Christmas break."

He said the smoother surface to be applied to the clip-ons would improve safety and driving comfort over the bridge, which is used by more than 180,000 vehicles on an average week day.

His operations manager, Joseph Flanagan, said the rush would be on to re-open the bridge for the return to work of many Aucklanders in the second week of January.

But the project was weather-sensitive as the polyurethane material used to re-seal the clip-ons, while stronger than the "hot mix" surfacing of the main bridge, needed plenty of preparation and drying time.

Transit is also using the holiday period for maintenance work on the bridge's moveable concrete median barrier, used to keep apart opposing traffic, even though it is to be replaced next summer with a more flexible structure for $9.7 million.


Mr Flanagan said that as well as taking only about 20 minutes to re-align lanes each day - half the existing time - the thinner new structure would allow an extra 75mm to 100mm to be added to the 3.05m width of the bridge's inside lanes.

Transit will open a new bridge on Friday to take traffic on Hillsborough Rd across the $195 million motorway extension it is building through Mt Roskill.

A 130m-diameter temporary roundabout which has kept 40,000 vehicles a day away from the bridge construction site for the past year will be removed on Thursday night.

The western 500m section of Hugh Watt Drive between Hillsborough Rd and Hayr Rd will also close permanently then, to make way for earthworks for the new motorway.

Vehicles using Hillsborough Rd will instead be controlled by two sets of lights at its intersection with ramps to and from the end of the Southwestern Motorway, a main route for airport traffic.

Transit regional capital projects manager Sumi Eratne said that would allow the ground on each side of the new bridge to be cut away to a depth of 6.5m, for the motorway to run beneath it.

That would reduce the existing 5 per cent grade for traffic climbing the hill from Onehunga Bay to a much gentler 2 per cent, once the motorway extension opened in mid-2009.

* ROADWORKS AHEAD

The Auckland Harbour Bridge's two northbound clip-on lanes will close today for resealing.

Hugh Watt Drive west of Hillsborough Rd in Mt Roskill, at the end of the Southwestern Motorway, will close permanently on Thursday night.

About bloody time!.Those two Northbound "Nippon Clip-On" lanes have been a total "mare" to drive on.

[jarbury]

Yeah I was driving across them on Xmas day and thought they were pretty bad.

[SYDNEY]

Hillsborough Rd overbridge opens tomorrow
NZ HERALD - 5:00AM Thursday December 27, 2007

Transit New Zealand contractors will tonight dismantle a giant traffic roundabout in Mt Roskill, ready to open a new road bridge tomorrow above an extension of Auckland's Southwestern Motorway. They have spent since last Christmas building the $1.5 million Hillsborough Rd bridge, with south-facing ramps to and from the motorway, while almost 40,000 vehicles a day used a 130m-diameter roundabout with an elaborate system of traffic signals to circle barricades around the construction site. Hillsborough Rd is a main route for commuters travelling between Waitakere and Manukau cities and for traffic heading to and from the airport.

The six-lane bridge will eventually become part of a "full diamond" interchange, with traffic ramps pointing both east and west at the 4km motorway extension being built through Mt Roskill to New Windsor for $195 million. It is the fifth of six crossings to be built over the motorway route, four of them for general traffic and two others just for cyclists and pedestrians. Transit regional capital projects manager Sumi Eratne says its completion means contractors, who began building the motorway two-and-a-half years ago, are well past the half-way point towards opening it in mid-2009. "It's a critical milestone for the project - we have broken the back of it," Mr Eratne said.

But motorists will have to remain patient for some time yet, as the 500m section of Hugh Watt Drive west of the new bridge to Hayr Rd will close permanently tomorrow to allow the motorway to be built in its place. That will mean a heavier reliance on nearby Carr Rd and Littlejohn St as alternative routes. Mr Eratne said contractors still had to remove 100,000 cubic metres of earth between Queenstown Rd and Hayr Rd, to give the motorway 6.5m of clearance under the new Hillsborough Rd bridge. That would reduce the 5 per cent grade of the existing motorway reaching up the hill from Onehunga Bay to just 2 per cent, although traffic would still face a steady climb on the already-completed westbound off-ramp to Hillsborough Rd.

The new 40m bridge, which is supported by an 8m pier, was built out of a tight pit in the middle of the roundabout as everyday traffic movements continued over digging machines and the heads of workers. Mr Eratne said it was a novel arrangement by which Transit had been able to get the job done without major disruption to traffic. Two other traffic bridges have already been completed, on May Rd and Dominion Rd, where the motorway's only other interchange with local roads is to be built. So have two elaborate "cable-stay" cycling and pedestrian bridges, between Keith Hay Park and Mt Roskill Grammar School and at Ernie Pinches St at the western end of the motorway.

The only other crossing yet to be completed on the project is the partly-built Hayr Rd bridge further west, although a bridge still has to be constructed to carry the motorway itself across Oakley Creek on the northern boundary of Keith Hay Park. Transit has yet to widen Maioro St to cope with extra traffic travelling to and from a roundabout which has already been formed at the western end of the motorway, and to extend Sandringham Rd to join the motorway via the roundabout. That will become a main route for traffic heading between the airport and Eden Park for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

[jarbury]

Very exciting! Quite a major milestone for the project. Seem like Hillsborough Road functioned better with the giant roundabout than it had before, though I'm not a regular user. Hopefully the new system works well for traffic going through the area.

[Shakespeare_nz]

Any pictures?

I'm sensing a real public interest and excitment in the development of Auckland's transport infra-structure, certainly in the Herald at least.

[Svartmetall]

Originally Posted by Shakespeare_nz

Any pictures?

I'm sensing a real public interest and excitment in the development of Auckland's transport infra-structure, certainly in the Herald at least.

As am I - though I'd rather it be directed towards PUBLIC transport infrastructure.

[Svartmetall]

Holiday road toll rises to 17
NZ Herald
4.1.08


The holiday road toll has risen to 17 following the death of a Japanese tourist seriously injured in a crash yesterday.

The man died overnight, after the crash at Mt Cook National Park, police said.

Police said speed and alcohol appeared to be factors in 10 of the 17 crashes over the Christmas holiday period, which started at 4pm on Christmas Eve and finished at 6am today.

Two people were not wearing seatbelts.

Police said it was time for drivers to take responsibility.

Seventeen people were killed in 15 crashes, including six drivers, five passengers, two motorcyclists, a tractor driver and a horse rider .

Last year nine people died in the same period. Twenty-two were killed the previous year.

"In comparison to every other year it's an average result, but it's a poor result compared to last year," road policing operations manager Inspector Carey Griffiths told NZPA.

The overall trend of road deaths was downwards - "but it's still ... too many ... We can still do better.

"It's very easy to sit back and talk about numbers but when it's one of your family members it really hits home.

"I think it's fair to say drivers can get complacent."

The number of people who died on the roads in 2007 had also increased to 423, from 2006's total of 393, which had been a 40-year low.

Mr Griffiths said most crashes were caused by drivers, with mechanical failure a factor in only about 0.5 per cent.

Alcohol was a factor in a third of crashes, speed a third of crashes and not wearing a seatbelt a quarter.

At least 22 lives could have been saved last year, had the person been wearing a seat belt, Mr Griffiths said.

The number of drink drivers being caught by police had increased slightly last year despite extensive campaigns.

The message was not getting through and i t was time for people to take personal responsibility, Mr Griffiths said.

Friends and family should also step in, telling people not to drink and drive or speed and be prepared to call the police if necessary.

"As a community we shouldn't be tolerating bad driving and bad drivers ... It's time to say enough's enough."'

People also liked to blame the road when someone had been driving too fast or did not have good tyres, he said.

"Any piece of road can be dangerous, if the driver doesn't use it appropriately."


The holiday period had ended but police were still urging drivers to take "extra care" as plenty of people would still be on holiday, Mr Griffiths said.

Road deaths this holiday period:

* A 13-year-old boy and a woman, 19, were killed after a car and a horse collided on State Highway 35, near Optic in the eastern Bay of Plenty about 3.15pm yesterday.

[SYDNEY]

1277 people killed in South Africa since 01 December ... I can't find a figure for the same period in NZ - anybody know ?