Info day for flood mitigation project near Thames
MEDIA RELEASE
27 November 2015
Info day for flood mitigation project near Thames
An information day is being held for people to find out more about a multi-agency project to mitigate flooding at Kirikiri near Thames.
Details of a stopbank upgrade and bridge replacement at Kirikiri will be available at the information day at the Thames Golf Club between 4pm and 7pm on Monday 7 December.
The Kirikiri area has previously experienced localised flooding, made worse by the way the current Kirikiri Stream Bridge on State Highway 26 affects flood waters.
Waikato Regional Council has been working with the NZ Transport Agency on a solution, which involves the bridge being replaced to enable the council’s Waihou Valley flood control scheme to be completed to its original design standard.
The new bridge will handle the flow of a 100-year flood event. It will be about three metres higher and won’t have a central support structure. This will prevent debris accumulating under the bridge and contributing to flooding.
Following construction of the new bridge, Waikato Regional Council will widen the stream channel and floodway, upgrade the stopbanks to a higher level, shift some stopbanks back from the stream’s channel and, in a few areas, construct timber floodwalls.
The project, scheduled to be constructed between 2018 and 2021, is dependent on the Transport Agency finalising funding for the bridge replacement.
The combined budget for the proposed works will be confirmed following the detailed design. However, there will be no impact on Waikato Regional Council rates because this work is a completion of the already funded Waihou Valley Scheme.
“So this work is a great way of providing better protection to the Kirikiri area without ramping up rates,” said the council’s integrated catchment management principal technical advisor Ghassan Basheer.
“It’s great that the Transport Agency and ourselves are working closely to complete the project.”