The straight and not-so narrow: $60m goes a long way on 'alternate highway'

Sunday, 18 February 2018

A South Island road thought difficult to drive at the best of times has been given a $60 million upgrade, making it more 'resilient' and safer for motorists.

The inland highway between Picton and Christchurch, taking in state highways 6, 63, 65 and 7, became the South Island's main road following the November 2016 earthquake. 

But truckies started quitting the 'alternate highway', as it became known, because they did not feel safe driving the winding and sometimes alpine route.

NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) system manager Frank Porter said the multimillion-dollar improvements project had been spent creating a road safer for truck drivers and the general public.

**READ MORE:

* Six months of the alternative highway

* Linehaul drivers quit due to dangerous conditions and inexperienced drivers

* Poor attitude towards truck driving causing shortage, says freight body**

The Government pledged $60m to improve the route after SH1 was closed for more than a year following the 7.8-magnitude Kaikōura earthquake.

Porter said it was obvious parts of the inland road were 'not fit-for-purpose' for the increase in traffic.

'After the earthquakes, it became apparent that it was a pretty major alternative route and so what we have done is we have invested quite heavily in improving it and making it much more resilient so that if there are times where State Highway 1 is not available, this will be a much more resilient route and it will be capable of taking the extra traffic.'

Porter said all the improvements to the road, including widening and strengthening, would make it more comfortable for people to drive, compared to how it was pre-quake. 

'It's a difficult, winding alpine route so it's always going to be difficult driving. It will never be as easy a drive as it is on State Highway1 but we have got it to a stage where I think there is a general level of comfort where it's able to be used.'

Truck drivers were quitting after fearing for their lives driving the Christchurch to Picton route.

State Highway 63, which is part of the route between Blenheim and Kawatiri Junction, was dubbed the 'white knuckle highway' by truck driver Shayne Ranson.

Through the Howard Narrows, a notoriously narrow stretch of road between St Arnaud and Kawatiri, Ranson said drivers would call up on radios to notify each other that they were passing through. 

Porter said the statistics of truck crashes along the alternate route had improved as work had got under way along the road.

In February 2017, there were 12 crashes involving trucks and 10 crashes in March. In October and November last year, two truck crashes were recorded for each month.

There were a total of 79 truck crashes recorded from November 2016 to mid-December 2017. Of those 79 heavy vehicle crashes, 11 resulted in roll-overs. 

The bulk of the $60m improvements package was being spent at the top of the South Island where the roads were not designed to carry large volumes of traffic. North Canterbury required less money for improvements as it was designed to carry higher volumes, Porter said.

More than $20m was being spent improving SH63 in Marlborough and $36m on SH6 to Tasman.

HOWARD NARROWS

In the peak of construction last year, 180 staff worked on constructing the notoriously narrow section of road along SH63 known as Howard Narrows.

Fulton Hogan alternate route manager Gavin Stobie said that section of road was not designed to fit two trucks driving past each other.

'This was the most notorious section of the alternate route and it is fantastic that we are able to improve it to this standard and it's going to be lasting forever.'

Before widening works got under, the road was a maximum of 6 metres wide.

Retaining walls, guard rails and more than 50 anchors had been put in place along the now 7.5m-wide Howard Narrows to ensure it was safe to drive.

The 'urgent' section of road required more than 82,000 tonnes of gravel for extension, which came from a quarry in Brightwater. 

To extend the road, the cliff face had to be chipped away at.

'Some days it would take a full day to chip away at 5 to 10m of rock with a drill because of the type of rock, although other days crews could get through it faster. The rock type was highly variable,' Stobie said.

Fulton Hogan employee James Ward had been working on the section since work began and he called himself 'an old hand'.

'I literally know the whole Narrows from start to finish,' he said.

Ward, from Christchurch, chucked his hand up immediately to help work on the highway after the Kaikōura quake.

He said he wanted to do what he could to help, having been through the Christchurch earthquake in 2011. 

'Being in Christchurch when we had our quake, everybody came to our aide. So when the quake hit up here, I put my hand up. They helped us so it's nice to return the favour,' he said.

Ward said while it had been hard work, especially during the heat of summer and while bumble bees were out, it had been a rewarding experience both personally and professionally.

Since SH1 reopened, the traffic volume had dropped which made a nice change for workers.

Stobie said it was unnerving standing so close to vehicles and trucks going past.

'It is quite intimidating when you are standing within a metre of lots and lots of trucks whizzing past.'

Stobie said it was obvious when SH1 temporary closed again due to bad weather or accidents as the traffic volume increased.

Truck Crashes on the 'alternate highway': 

Nov-16: 2

Dec-16: 7

Jan-17: 5

Feb-17: 12

Mar-17: 10

Apr-17: 4

May-17: 8

Jun-17*: 5

Jul-17*: 7

Aug-17*: 5

Sep-17*: 9

Oct-17*: 2

Nov-17*: 2

1-15 Dec* -17: 1

* Provisional data as recorded in CAS (NZTA's Crash Analysis System) and current as of February 13