Bryan Hudson
Transportation manager Bryan Hudson.
Three Waipā roads and one street will have 4.3kms of pavement rehabilitated in the current construction season starting next month at a cost of $1.92 million.
Hogan Road (Cambridge), Arapuni Road (Arapuni), Te Mawhai Road (Te Awamutu) and Whitmore Street (Kihihiki) are either under construction or scheduled for early next year, Transportation manager Bryan Hudson told the Service Delivery committee this week.
In addition, 88kms of chip seal pavement repairs throughout the district will start next month.
A number of roads will also be resurfaced this season costing $4.2 million.
The work is being done in Ōhaupō Village, Cambridge Road (Cambridge), Kihikihi, Victoria Road southern roundabout, Cambridge Pathways, Frontier Road (Pirongia) and Hall Street (Cambridge) which are all in various stages of construction.
“A big focus these past months has been on inducting and establishing Downer as the new general road maintenance contractor,” said Hudson who said the company had already repaired 1937 potholes in two months.
The new team started on September 1 and has “come to grips” with a large repair schedule, he said.
“Now that the weather is improving a more proactive approach is possible and crews are doing deep pavement repairs in preparation for resealing to start.”
Meanwhile contractors have poured new concrete either side of the Kihikihi Primary School as part of the Te Ara Rimu pathway project while in Cambridge the ground has been prepared for the pathway construction in Hamilton Road.
“In Ōhaupō, kerbs and old asphalt paths have been removed in two areas ready for new construction. Working in a constrained area and maintaining access for the public and businesses is a significant challenge, but rapid progress is being made,” Hudson told the committee.
Speedy work by council’s project team and Waka Kotahi means the pathways, part of the $12.8 million Transport Choices programme, have been designed and funded in a compressed timeframe.
Waipā was able to take up the available government funding while projects in Hamilton ($14 million), Matamata-Piako ($1.6 million), Waikato ($1.9 million), Waikato Region ($750,000) and Taupō ($315,000) have paused pending decisions by the new government.
