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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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