[ad_1]
only vehicle
Construction of Te Ahu to Turanga, the new highway between Manawatū and Tararua, is scheduled to begin.
The years of pain for motorists crossing the North Island are finally coming to an end, with the start of a major highway project.
Construction from Te Ahu to Turanga, a new highway through the lower North Island, begins Friday with a ceremony at the end of the project in Woodville.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Transport Minister Michael Wood, as well as local deputies, mayors and iwi representatives, will mark the construction of a road with almost four years of construction.
WARWICK SMITH / THINGS
A slippery road is returning to nature and homeless people are making the most of it. Stuff reporter Jono Galuszka takes a look in this 2019 video.
Manawatū and Tararua were linked by State Highway 3 through Manawatū Gorge until landslides and the risk of a hillside collapse closed the highway in April 2017.
READ MORE:
* New road will change the route through Tararua and Wairarapa
* Manawatū Gorge replacement road gets final go-ahead
* New highway between Manawatū and Hawke’s Bay to create 350 new jobs
Since then steep and windy alternatives, Saddle Rd and Pahīatua Track, have been used, with over 6000 vehicles a day.
Roads have been significantly degraded and accidents have become a common phenomenon since the gorge road closure.
only vehicle
A large bridge will span a wetland on the Manawatū side from Te Ahu to Turanga.
Te Ahu to Turanga will be a significant improvement to the gorge road, with four lanes, 1½ meter wide shoulders, a central median barrier and a separate path for walkers and cyclists.
Wood said the new highway would move freight faster between Manawatū, Tararua, Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa, helping the regions’ economic growth.
Hundreds of people working on the highway, aiming for locals to make up 60 percent of the workforce, would further aid growth, while the bike path would stimulate tourism, he said.
The road cuts through farmland and skirts the edge of the QEII convention land, but the overall project will involve planing approximately 2 million trees.
only vehicle
Te Ahu to Turanga will have two lanes each way, with a central median and hard shoulders, a vast improvement on State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge.
That includes 46 hectares of native forest and pest control in 300ha of forest reserve, Wood said.
The name of the new road reflects the one given to a peak above the Te Āpiti-Manawatū gorge, where Turangaimua of Rangitāne, the son of Turi, a waka captain who set sail from Hawaiki as part of the Maori migration to Aotearoa , New Zealand, was killed.
Iwi in the area has been heavily involved in planning the road, working with the Waka Kotahi NZ Transportation Agency and its partners.
Wood said the relationships between the agency and iwi are a great example for upcoming infrastructure projects.
The highway, which costs $ 620 million, is expected to be ready by 2025.
