Major Middleton intersection goes one way from Friday afternoon this week

Middleton/ Addington road users and workers: Birmingham Drive one way for three months from end of this week

Birmingham Drive, at the heart of Christchurch’s south-western commercial and industrial heartland, goes one way, from Friday this week.

The one-way segment, westbound only, goes from the Marylands Reserve to Wrights Road roundabout. Drivers on Wrights Road, Addington, will not be able to turn onto Birmingham Drive.

A major new wastewater pipeline, Pressure Main 105, is being installed along Birmingham Drive and north along Wrights Road and Matipo Street to Blenheim Road.

SCIRT’s Fulton Hogan crew are establishing on site and anticipate the one-way traffic system along Birmingham Drive will be in place Friday afternoon.

Because this road is a major cross-town link, alternate routes will also be very busy.

• The detour route at the roundabout will take drivers north up Wrights Road, across the railway line and along Matipo Street to Blenheim Road. Crews will also be working on the pipeline on Matipo Street and Wrights Road. These roads will be open to two-way traffic but drivers should expect a slow journey.
• Drivers may want to avoid the roundabout and take Lincoln Road to Curletts Road and then Blenheim Road or Lunns Road. These roads will also be busy with traffic queued at peak times.
• Whiteleigh Avenue in Addington is also likely to be busier.

Advice for Middleton drivers and workers
• Travel outside peak hours if possible.
• Bus, bike, carpool if you can.
• Marylands Reserve cycleway runs along the back of Birmingham Drive.
• Annex Road, at the Lincoln Road end, provides walking and cycling access via the motorway underpass to the western end of Birmingham Drive.
• You can park at the free, sign-posted carpark near the Wrights Road roundabout on Addington Raceway’s northern side. 80 places available daily.
• Combine driving with a walk from outside the most congested areas.
• The 40 Middleton/Wainoni Metro route will follow the northern detour on its westbound journey. Bus stops will shift. Contact Metro 366 8855 or visit www.metroinfo.co.nz for details.
• Expect delays and please be patient.

Keeping businesses informed
SCIRT’s Fulton Hogan delivery team has spoken to many of the businesses in the area and organised information evenings. Electronic message boards on Wrights and Annex Roads have been advertising the change to road users for several weeks. An email newsletter has been set up to keep people informed.

What is the pipe for?
The pipe is to service 15,000 households in new areas of growth like Wigram Skies and the new Halswell subdivisions. Since the earthquakes, expansion in these areas has stepped up. The new pipe will also prevent wastewater overflows to streams and waterways. The new pipeline is part of the Christchurch City Council’s wastewater upgrades.

Where does it go?
From the new pump station in Wigram Road, the 710 mm diameter pipeline snakes its way across open country and under the Southern Motorway to Marylands Reserve, where it discharges to a new gravity pipe, falling more than six metres to the existing trunk sewer in Matipo Street near Blenheim Road.

How long will this take?
The Birmingham Drive work is scheduled to take about three months.

Why the one-way?
With 15,000 vehicle movements each day, Birmingham Drive is too busy to safely run a manual Stop/Go system, hence the one-way solution.

What sort of piping systems are being used?
At least five different methods of construction are being used, depending on the ground conditions in the area, land use and design requirement constraints.

These include:

• Battered excavations
• Trench shields
• Sheet piling
• Thrusting under the motorway
• Directional drilling through swampy ground near the motorway

Open trenching, which is occurring along Matipo Street, Wrights Road and Birmingham Drive involves dewatering of the ground to create a dry trench, trench shields or sheet piles.

ends

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