Nor'West News: June 28, 2016

WESTERN NEWS Tuesday June 28 2016 3
News
Quarry’s $1m underpass
• By Tom Doudney
FULTON HOGAN has spent
$1 million on installing an
underpass underneath a public
road to connect two sides of its
Miners Rd quarry in Yaldhurst.
The underpass, which links
the two 40ha sections of
quarry either side of the road,
is expected to reduce transport
costs for the company by saving
30,000 truck movements a year.
While its processing plant is
on the east side of Miners Rd,
most of its extraction is taking
place on the west side.
An electric conveyor belt
more than 1km long will
transport material for crushing
from one side to the other and
this is expected to be up
and running within the next
month.
Fulton Hogan environmental
manager Peter Savage said
getting the material from the
extraction areas to the
processing plant currently
involved a 2.5km round trip
for each truckload and the
company had wanted to find a
better way.
“Digging up Miners Rd
wasn’t an option,” Mr Savage
said.
“So quite simply, we ran the
numbers on the pure economics
of putting in an underpass
as opposed to carting with the
trucks.”
Not having to send so many
trucks across Miners Rd
would improve the traffic situation
for other road users as well.
“You can’t really put a price
on the safety aspect of taking
those trucks off the road and
obviously it also reduces the
emissions from those trucks,”
Mr Savage said.
The reduction in truck movements
was expected to reduce
GOING UNDER:
An electric
conveyor
belt passing
through a new
underpass
will transport
material from
one side of
Fulton Hogan’s
Miners Rd
quarry to the
other. ​
the company’s CO2 emissions
by between 130 and 180 tonnes
a year.
Mr Savage said the conveyor
belt was “like a giant Meccano
set” which would have
extra sections bolted on to it as
needed to reach new extraction
areas in the quarry.
In Brief
SMOKEFREE ROCKQUEST
Three bands from western high
schools will compete in the
Canterbury regional final for the
Smokefree Rockquest at The Bedford
this Friday. High school bands from
Canterbury competed in heats last
month and now the top 12 bands
are set to play off for first and
second place prizes and a spot in the
national final in September. In The
City from Christchurch Boys’ High
School, Toastduty from Middleton
Grange School and Ancora from
Burnside High School will all
compete on the night.
FUNDING GRANTED
The city council has put aside
$500,000 in the 2016-17 budget to
fund additional work required at
Mona Vale gatehouse and a building
within Halswell Quarry Park for
commercial activities.
HALSWELL SKATE PARK
A final recommendation on the
site of the Halswell skate park and
recreation area will be made by the
end of next month. The Riccarton-
Wigram Community Board has
confirmed it expects to make a
final decision on the site on July 27,
following months of community
consultation. The city council is
looking at three possible locations
– Knights Stream Sports Park,
Halswell Domain and Westlake
Reserve.
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