For peat's sake - Waikato Expressway completion date pushed out

Tuesday, 29 June 2021

A stretch of the Hamilton section of the Waikato Expressway, looking north from Kay Road.

The completion date for the final section of the Waikato Expressway has been pushed out six months to mid-2022.

Material and labour shortages aggravated by Covid-19 and challenging ground conditions, including an unexpected peat soil patch, are being blamed for the delay in completing the 22 kilometre-long Hamilton section.

The section, which has a budget of $607 million, was previously flagged to open by the end of 2021.

And while some city politicians have slammed the new timeframe – with one National MP saying contractors are “on the go slow” – others say the new date will allow the roading project to open as a complete package.

Contractors work on the Hamilton section of the Waikato Expressway, looking south from Osborne Road.

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Waka Kotahi infrastructure delivery regional manager Jo Wilton said contractors have encountered challenging ground conditions along the site, including the recent discovery of peat on the Resolution Drive extension.

An 800m section of the four-lane highway also had to be redesigned and raised due to the unanticipated growth of an algal material in the subsoil drainage network south of Ruakura.

Hamilton-based National MP David Bennett said the Government has failed to provide the construction industry with a pipeline of major projects and this has caused contractors to take a “go slow” approach.

“That’s not the contractors’ fault, it’s the Government’s fault for not giving them another set of projects to work with,” he said.

Waka Kotahi expect the Hamilton section to be completed by mid-2022.

Bennett is sceptical about claims ground conditions along the section has caused unforeseen delays.

“It’s some of the best land in the Waikato. There would be pockets of peat but most of it isn’t, it’s good productive land.”

The prosperity and growth of Hamilton has been built on the back of the Waikato Expressway, with major businesses, such as Rabobank, relocating their headquarters to the city.

“You’ve got the central city development happening because companies can access other cities from Hamilton. The Waikato Expressway was supposed to be finished by 2019, so we’re not talking about a six-month delay, this is a two-year plus delay.”

Labour’s Hamilton East MP, Jamie Strange, was given a site tour of the Hamilton section earlier this year and witnessed first-hand the challenges roading staff face.

The section crosses several gullies which presents challenges with different soil types. Conservation measures also have to be adhered to.

“It’s important as politicians that we listen to the experts and, in this case, the experts are Waka Kotahi and engineers,” Strange said.

Hamilton City Council development general manager Chris Allen said comments the entire expressway would be completed by 2019 were first made in 2009. Having the Hamilton section open in mid-2022 would allow the project to open as a complete project.

The city council is building the key Ruakura Road Link to the expressway, and this is timed to be completed by March or April next year.

“It’s now 2021 so [the expressway build] has taken 12 years, but that shouldn’t detract from a great achievement to build all these sections in roughly 10 years,” Allen said.

“They’re probably about a year late but to be fair on them, they’ve built a big project right through Covid and … have had significant geotechnical problems.”

Hamilton city councillor Dave Macpherson said the new completion date avoided the situation of the Hamilton section opening ahead of all the interchanges being completed.

“It would have been a hell of a mess in our opinion if both parts hadn’t been able to open together because you’d have traffic going down roads … that weren’t designed to handle that volume of traffic,” Macpherson said.