The Star: June 01, 2017
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi<br />
Thursday <strong>June</strong> 1 2<strong>01</strong>7 5<br />
Bypass takes shape<br />
THIS IS what the Western<br />
Belfast Bypass looks like two<br />
years after work started.<br />
<strong>The</strong> New Zealand Transport<br />
Agency released drone footage<br />
this week of the $122 million<br />
project which will see a new<br />
four-lane, 5km stretch of highway<br />
constructed.<br />
Bypassing Belfast, it will extend<br />
the Christchurch Northern<br />
Motorway (SH1) and connect<br />
into State Highway 1/ Johns Rd,<br />
west of <strong>The</strong> Groynes entrance.<br />
<strong>The</strong> bypass is part of the Government’s<br />
Christchurch Roads<br />
of National Significance programme,<br />
a multi-million dollar<br />
plan to make it easier and safer<br />
to travel throughout Christchurch<br />
and the Canterbury region.<br />
NZTA Christchurch highways<br />
manager Colin Knaggs said the<br />
project, which got under way<br />
two years ago this month, is<br />
about 80 per cent complete.<br />
“Over 375,000 hours have<br />
been worked on this project so<br />
far and it is progressing well as<br />
this drone footage shows,” Mr<br />
Knaggs said.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Fulton Hogan construction<br />
team are currently focusing<br />
on three new bridges which<br />
will carry the Western Belfast<br />
Bypass above Groynes Dr and<br />
Dickeys Rd, and over a new onramp<br />
that will link Main North<br />
Rd to the Northern Motorway.”<br />
<strong>The</strong>se three structures are a<br />
major part of the project and<br />
are now close to being finished<br />
which is a great milestone for<br />
the project team.<br />
Mr Knaggs said a lot of the<br />
work that went into these<br />
bridges is underground, hidden<br />
from view.<br />
“Before the project team<br />
could start building they had to<br />
carry out ground improvement<br />
work, constructing around 2400<br />
columns of gravel and stone into<br />
the ground to make it denser,”<br />
he said.<br />
“This reduces the effects of<br />
liquefaction and ensures the<br />
bridge embankments remain<br />
stable, preventing damage to<br />
the bridge structures during an<br />
earthquake.”<br />
In addition, more than<br />
30 steel encased reinforced<br />
concrete piles support each<br />
structure and extend 18 to 20m<br />
below ground level.<br />
<strong>The</strong> drone footage shows the<br />
2km long mid-section of the<br />
project which has been out of<br />
public view during construction.<br />
“Aside from some road marking<br />
and other minor finishing<br />
touches, this section of the<br />
project is also close to being<br />
finished,” Mr Knaggs said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> bypass is expected to be<br />
complete by early 2<strong>01</strong>8.<br />
Baxter returns home<br />
•Form page 1<br />
Mackenzie Kane had given up<br />
on ever seeing her little dog again.<br />
Baxter escaped one evening in<br />
March last year, after someone<br />
left their garage door open.<br />
She had done everything she<br />
could to try to find him – walked<br />
the streets, posted on Facebook<br />
groups, and called the pound and<br />
the city council so many times<br />
they knew her by name.<br />
Every few weeks she would get<br />
another call about a bichon frise<br />
someone had found, and every<br />
time she would again be hopeful<br />
it might be Baxter – but each time<br />
her hopes would be dashed.<br />
“I gave up hope by the end of it.<br />
It’s kind of heart-breaking. Every<br />
time I saw a bichon on the street<br />
I’d wonder, is it him?” she said.<br />
On Monday, she got the call<br />
she had been waiting more than<br />
a year for.<br />
Baxter had been found.<br />
Mackenzie’s mother, Christine<br />
Kane, picked Baxter up. He looked<br />
a little scruffy, but well fed.<br />
As soon as Mackenzie finished<br />
work she drove straight to see<br />
him.<br />
She said it was an emotional<br />
reunion, with a lot of wet kisses.<br />
“I was worried after 14 months<br />
he wouldn’t recognise me, but he<br />
did. He did his party trick, which<br />
RETURNED: Baxter has been<br />
compared with Wilson the<br />
Lotto dog, as both found<br />
their way home after long<br />
adventures.<br />
was dancing on his back legs, and<br />
he was doing his excited whimper,”<br />
she said.<br />
Baxter was microchipped and<br />
wearing a collar with his dog<br />
registration number on it, which<br />
he was still wearing when found<br />
in Hornby.<br />
Mackenzie said someone must<br />
have been feeding him over the<br />
past year and she was grateful for<br />
that, but if they had taken him to<br />
any vet or called the city council,<br />
they could have easily found the<br />
family and saved a lot of heartbreak.<br />
She was just glad to have him<br />
back, she said.<br />
“We’ll never know where he’s<br />
been. Baxter must have some stories,<br />
but he can’t tell us,” she said.<br />
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