Selwyn Times: December 05, 2018

4 Wednesday December 5 2018
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
News
SELWYN TIMES
$195m mammoth motorway
It’s set to make
commuting safer and
easier by halving travel
time and reducing fatal
and serious crashes by
40 per cent. Julia Evans
checks in to see how
work is progressing on
the Southern Motorway
upgrade
MORE THAN 500,000 cu m
of earth and $195 million is
being poured into upgrading the
Southern Motorway.
The new 7.5km motorway will
extend from Halswell Junction
Rd to near Robinsons Rd on State
Highway 1 so commuters can
bypass Hornby and Templeton.
From Robinsons Rd to Rolleston,
Main South Rd will double to
four-lanes for 5km.
The project should halve time
between Christchurch and
Rolleston from 30min to 15min.
It is also expected to reduce
fatal and serious crashes by 40
per cent by upgrading the third
and seventh most dangerous
intersections in Canterbury –
Weedon Ross Rd and SH1, as well
as Shands and Marshs Rds.
Those are just the two key
features of the mammoth project
that has more than 20 components
and is on track for its
February 2020 opening.
New Zealand Transport
Agency principal project
manager Geoff Griffiths said
the most recent milestone was
northbound traffic on Main
South Rd switched onto the new
SH1 lanes last month.
Southbound traffic also made
the move last month.
“The traffic switch on SH1
will see some local road closures
in place from this week.
Larcombs Rd at Main South Rd
will be closed for around four
weeks and Berketts Rd will be
closed at Main South Rd until
TRAFFIC:
NZTA senior
project
manager
Geoff Griffiths
says the
Southern
Motorway
upgrade is on
track.
the new southbound lanes on
SH1 are opened in 2019,” he
said.
“That will be the next biggest,
most visible stage of work when
we move all the two-way traffic.”
After that, work will start
on moving 10 58-tonne bridge
beams will be craned into place
at the Weedons Rd interchange.
They will complete the bridge,
which already has 10 beams in
place.
“At the other end of things,
we’ll be starting on Springs Rd,”
Mr Griffiths said.
That work will take the project
into its final year.
“A new roundabout is being
constructed at the intersection of
Weedons Ross/Jones Rd, which
is due to be completed in the first
half of 2019.”
This year, work largely concentrated
on the Shands Rd
interchange. But there was also
considerable work at the Halswell
Junction Rd end of the project
with 16 piers installed for the
interchange.
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