State Highway 3 north of New Plymouth has reopened complete with a new temporary Bailey bridge and a new box concrete culvert.
The road between Okau Road in Ahititi and the Uruti Community Hall closed at 12.01am on Friday and reopened just before midnight last night.
During the closure, crews worked around the clock to replace the Mangapepeke No.1 culvert and installed a temporary Bailey bridge at the Mangapepeke No.1 culvert site. The temporary single-lane bridge will allow traffic to keep moving while further construction on the No. 2 culvert replacement takes place.
NZ Transport Agency project manager Kendra Ludeke is thankful to the crews and to local communities for supporting the closure to get this essential work done.
“Almost 3,000 vehicles typically travel SH3 every day and one fifth of them are heavy vehicles - mainly freight. We know full closures are always disruptive, and we really appreciate people’s support and understanding during the past few days.
“Replacing culverts is always tricky and invariably always involves some road closures due to the need to remove and replace the drainage structures that are underneath the road.
“Keeping water away from the road is one of the most important ways to boost the resilience of the network and we need to ensure our culverts, bridges and other structures are as capable as possible of handling that water, diverting it away from the roading network.”
Next steps
Due to wet weather on the last day of the closure, crews were unable to lay asphalt over the new Mangapepeke No.1 culvert. However, crews will return at the earliest possible opportunity to asphalt this section. Currently there’s gravel over the culvert and we’re aware of potholes forming due to the rain and will be continuing to monitor the area.
The asphalting will be carried out under stop/go and won’t require a further closure.
Crews will remain in the area for the coming weeks until April, as work continues to replace the second culvert while traffic continues to use the temporary new Bailey bridge.
Stop/go traffic management will be in place. Please expect 15 minute delays round the clock between every day, Monday to Sunday.
Attached photos are of the temporary Bailey bridge in place and of the box concrete culvert.
