Final link in lengthy Hamilton roading project completed

Thursday, 7 July 2022

The finished product of the Ring Road - Wairere Dr extension in Hamilton.

After nearly 40 years in the making Hamilton’s ring road is complete and ready for action.

The final piece of the loop is the $63m Wairere Drive extension which will be formally opened on Friday morning.

Hamilton City Council’s general manager of development, Chris Allen, said it is just one of three major projects to help motorists move around the city.

The completion of the Waikato Expressway next week will take trucks out of the city, moving more traffic onto the ring road that encircles the central city.

* Hamilton's Ring Road on track signalling changes soon for State Highway 1

* Cobham Drive traffic headaches will be worth it in the long run, council says

Hamilton City Council’s Chris Allen and Hannah Woods said the final section of the Ring Road has offered up plenty of challenges.

Work has just begun on the third-project: making the north-south corridor of Peachgrove Rd to Hukanui Rd a slower route which is safer for cyclists, pedestrians and public transport.

Allen said those who should see an immediate change in traffic levels will be residents and businesses on Cambridge Rd, who have had to deal with detoured traffic.

Originally the new interchange on Cobham Dr was going to be a roundabout connection due to not having a firm timetable for growth in the Peacocke area.

“But then Peacockes growth area started to get a bit of momentum, and we secured some funding from the Government to open up the Peacocke area and build the bridge, so we then changed plans to build a proper interchange there,” Allen said.

The enabling work began in 2017, which saw electrical cables and water pipes moved along with relocating a stream and also gas relocation before the current contract could begin in 2018.

Hamilton’s ring road is completed and will aim to take thoroughfare traffic around the city rather than through it

The construction of the interchange, which has been done by Fulton Hogan, has seen Cobham Dr lifted six metres so Wairere Dr can go underneath, all while allowing traffic to continue to use SH1/Cobham Dr.

“By lifting Cobham Dr it allows Wairere Dr to seamlessly connect to the bridge to Peacocke when it is finished mid to late 2023.

“It also enabled better walking and cycling facilities to be built into the projects,” Allen said.

He recognised Covid-19 was a “wrecking ball” for numerous projects around New Zealand and part of the reason completing the interchange took about a year longer than planned.

Other challenges include in 2019, having started construction remnants of bullets were found in the topsoil between Dey St and Cobham Dr due to the site housing ammunition factories during World War II.

“It also used to be the old dump. Hamilton Gardens built on an old dump – that was a challenge for us because we found a lot of asbestos and lots of stuff we didn’t know was there – so it’s been a really challenging site to build it on.”

Cobham Dr is SH1, so the project has been a partnership between the council and Waka Kotahi, which has helped in the cost of the $63m build as 72% is contributed by the government through Waka Kotahi subsidies.

Cobham Dr has been lifted six metres to allow Wairere Dr to run underneath it.

For project manager Hannah Woods, building with live traffic on a stretch of SH1 which has about 35,000 vehicles on it daily was a big challenge.

“We had a commitment to Waka Kotahi to keep two lanes into the city and one lane out open the entire time, so it has kept the site very constrained in terms of how we can build it .

Another limitation being the road couldn’t be closed during the day.

“So the only time we could do a lot of the work in the tie-in areas where the ramps come in and do all the asphalting and live lanes was on night shift.”

But when she looks at the end result she’s pretty pleased.

“I am really proud of how it has all come together – especially the last three months it has been the most accelerated portion of the contract”.

Hamilton City Councillor Martin Gallagher said he was part of an original group opposed to diverting state highway traffic down Galloway, Peachgrove and Hukanui roads, which resulted in the Ring Road coming to be.

“I and others ran a petition which achieved 10,000 signatures, so 38 years later we are finally there.”

However, while pleased with the project, Gallagher wants to see even more progress when it comes to safer transport corridors.

“We must now use this opportunity to focus back on those major residential school streets in the Hamilton East area, to make sure they’re safe for kids.

“It’s personal pleasure to be involved in a big team that has brought this Ring Rd to fruition, I think it transforms along with the expressway our transport patterns in Hamilton – but there is still a heap to be done especially in the mode change area.”