Transmission Gully: Major repairs underway after surfacing issues
Tuesday, 8 February 2022
Major repairs are underway on Transmission Gully to fix problems with the road’s surfacing.
Photos provided by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency show large sections of the road’s pavement have been torn up and relaid by rollers on site last week.
Sources close to the project indicated there were issues with the chip seal and milling which had resulted in water coming up through pavement and flooding the road surface.
The issues add further delays and uncertainty to the already troubled road, which has missed five opening day deadlines in two years.
**READ MORE:
* Transmission Gully: No progress made towards opening in the past week
* Transmission Gully: Why are we (still) waiting?
**
A new opening date is currently being negotiated between Waka Kotahi and Wellington Gateway Partnership, the consortium overseeing the construction.
The road surfacing issues will likely cause significant delays, though no one involved could confirm how long it would take.
“There are several issues with both the asphalt and chip seal surfaces which require remedial work,” Waka Kotahi transport services general manager Brett Gliddon said in a statement.
Gliddon would not answer a series of questions about the specifics of the issue, how large it is, how long it would take to fix, or what companies would be involved.
He said the questions should be directed to Wellington Gateway Partnership (the consortium financing the road) and CPB HEB Joint Venture (the builders hired to construct the road).
Wellington Gateway Partnership chief executive Sergio Mejia did not respond to a request for comment by the deadline for publication.
CPB Contractors did not provide an explanation for the surfacing issues despite multiple phone calls and email requests.
CPB is the primary builder of the road and will be paid hundreds of millions in taxpayer money for the project.
Two reports by consultancy firm Stantec, which were released to the public in December, found there were extensive issues with the chip sealing on the road.
One of the reports found that during attempts to fix the issue, the loose chip had been spread over the affected areas and made the problem worse.
“Close inspection of the chip seal after rolling by steel drum showed some chips had been crushed while other chips had their tops broken off. Bonding of the loose Grade 5 chips to the excess bitumen was not apparent. Breaking the tops off the chips in the chip seal would reduce the texture depth of the seal,” the report read.
“Our observations concluded that this rolling with steel drum rollers was detrimental to the seal, not beneficial.”
It also found water had seeped into the surface at nine different spots.
There are still 10 outstanding “consent tasks” and 59 outstanding “safety and assurance tests”, which builder CPB HEB must submit to Aurecon – the road’s independent reviewer – before the road can open to the public.
The paving and surfacing issues are among the 59 outstanding safety and assurance tests.