Sandpit roads to engineering career for woman behind Waikato's newest road

Monday, 11 July 2022

The Hamilton section of the Waikato Expressway is set to open shortly after July 12.

Growing up on Hobsonville Airbase, Jo Wilton loved playing in a sandpit building roads. Forty-odd years later she’s still doing that, but with bigger sandpits and trucks.

Wilton is Waka Kotahi regional manager infrastructure delivery Waikato/Bay of Plenty and has been working on the Hamilton section of the Waikato Expressway for the past eight years.

She put the project out for tender in 2014, and this week it will open to the public. The 22km section completes what has been the region's largest piece of infrastructure for the past 10 years.

Both Wilton, 46, and her sister were born in Waitākere Hospital and grew up on air bases, as both parents were in the Air Force.

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“So not only did we get Barbie dolls and dresses, but we also got a sandpit and trucks.

“I did spend a lot of time in the sandpit when I was little, playing with trucks and cars, and I really loved it.”

Jo Wilton with then senior project manager Bruce Waugh on the Hamilton section of the Waikato Expressway in 2020.

All Wilton’s schooling was done in Auckland, even university where she gained her Bachelor of Engineering.

Her interest was sparked during an open day at Auckland University’s engineering school, where she “spent several hours in the civil engineering lab, playing with the seismic table destroying a building”.

“That is when I went, I would love to do this for a career.”

In her civil engineering class of 250 students she was one of four females – she’s the only one of them that’s still in the sector.

She interned at what is now known as Downers, going into construction rather than design, and graduating in 1999.

At that stage it was a very male-dominated industry, she struggled to find steel cap boots to fit her size 38 feet. However now she has a choice of boots and opts for her conversation-starter blue boots.

The Hamilton Section of the Waikato Expressway has “a bit of everything”, Wilton says – bridges, cultural elements and environmental aspects.

Wilton worked in Auckland on projects like the Albany to Puhoi realignment, Rosebank – Partiki interchange, and a lot of time working the wastewater area on the North Shore.

She met her husband Shane on the job in 1996. Wilton was a student doing concrete tests at the Rosebank- Partiki interchange, Shane was one of the structural site engineers.

After the opening of the Hamilton section of Waikato Expressway, motorists will be able to travel at 110kmh for 78 kilometres: from Hampton Downs to south of Cambridge.

“We … didn’t like each other at first,” she said.

But they got past that and married in 2005 and have two children Alex,15, and Sammy, 12.

They stayed in Auckland until 2011, when Shane got offered the position of project manager of the Atiamuri Bridge for HEB in Taupō.

“I started a 2.5-year contract with Contact Energy as a construction manager on the Wairakei Power Station which was a lot of fun as that is completely different, in the geothermal area.”

Shane then secured work on the Cambridge section of the Waikato Expressway with HEB. Wilton was officially unemployed for the first time but only for three weeks, until she joined WSP in the business unit.

Nine months later, the opportunity to work for Waka Kotahi on the Hamilton section arose.

She took on the title of senior project manager complex in 2014 and started preparing tender documents and specifications for the Hamilton section. The contract was awarded in November 2015 and sod-turning was held in March 2016.

Wilton progressed up the ranks. Covid-19 hit just as she became the regional manager role for the Waikato and Bay of Plenty infrastructure delivery teams.

The Hamilton Section of the Waikato Expressway is scheduled to open this week.

For Wilton the Hamilton section is a transformational project for the region, and it’s the final piece of Waikato Expressway.

“It is huge. It is a big sandpit with big toys, it’s 22km long, but has no tunnels.

“It’s got a bit of everything, it’s got the road, bridges, it’s got the cultural elements, it’s got all the environmental aspects to it as well.”

The project hasn’t been without its challenges - wet weather during crucial earthworks seasons and Covid have seen the completion date pushed out by two years.

Wilton has numerous projects on the go with Waka Kotahi in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

“I think the industry is my forever. I heard that if you don't enjoy what you do you are in the wrong job and I love what I do, I love the variety, the sandpit, nothing else appeals.”

And after eight years of work on the Hamilton section of the expressway, Wilton’s planning to enjoy a glass of wine, most likely a red, the night it opens.