New highway section to open as Transmission Gully gets closer

Wednesday, 12 December 2018

An aerial view shows the new road near McKays Crossing.

The Kāpiti Coast will get a brand new section of highway this week.

As Transmission Gully creeps closer, a stretch of State Highway 1 will close to the public, and a new section open, between Paekākāriki and McKays Crossing.

Transmission Gully road works, looking from Pauatahanui south towards Tawa, taken by Leo Cooney from Manawatu Aviation Club on Sunday.

Work on setting up the road-switch will start on Friday, December 14, at 7.30pm and is expected to be fully completed and open to the public at 4am on Saturday, project spokesman Justin Redelinghuys said.

'Switching traffic before the weekend will allow us to monitor the new road and address any issues that may arise before week-day peak traffic on the morning of Monday December 17.'

Photos taken on Sunday, December 9, 2018 of the Transmission Gully build.

* Transmission Gully's mega bridge set to launch

* Hill closure saves motorists 30 minutes**

The 27 kilometre-long, $850 million dollar Transmission Gully is set to open in 2020 and the road-switch marked the next big step in a string of changes and construction activity on SH1, Redelinghuys said.

'Although it will be temporarily used as a new section of SH1, the new coast road is one of the first finished pieces of road along the project that can not only be seen but also used.'

Once Transmission Gully opened, the coast road would become the new connection between Mackays Crossing, Paekākāriki township and the Centennial Highway.

The switch would be heavily sign posted and large concrete barriers would be in place as a safety precaution for both staff working onsite and motorists. The speed limit would be 80kmh.

Final chipseal had to be applied and line-making carried out before the road was complete and the switch could be made, he said. The work was weather dependant.

'To reduce possible confusion for road users, the lane layout that was implemented for the Mackays Crossing Update has remained in place in preparation for the switch on Friday and will continue to allow for further work in the area.'

The Paekākāriki switch is just the latest in road changes due to Transmission Gully.

Last month, the project realigned part of SH1 at Linden to demolish the southbound Collins Ave overbridge and make way for further construction of the bridge over the Kenepuru Interchange and the northern onramp to Transmission Gully.

Early next year, part of SH58 near Pauatahanui traffic will also switch onto a new permanent layout as part of the SH58 interchange with the Transmission Gully motorway.