15 November 2017 | SOUTHERN REGION

Christchurch’s Western Belfast Bypass - all lanes now open

All four lanes of Canterbury’s new Western Belfast Bypass are now open to traffic, the NZ Transport Agency says.

The Western Belfast Bypass is a new four-lane, 5km stretch of highway. Bypassing Belfast, it extends the Christchurch Northern Motorway (SH1) and connects into State Highway 1 (SH1) Johns Road, west of The Groynes entrance.

Traffic has been switched onto the new bypass in stages from Tuesday, October 31 to allow the project team to complete the final parts of the project, such as carrying out surfacing work on the connections to existing roads.

The final lane opened to traffic earlier today (Wednesday). An 80km per hour speed restriction is in place along the route to allow the project team to carry out final road marking and clear the site of road cones and temporary signs.
A permanent 100km/hour speed limit will be in place from Thursday afternoon.
The project team will be back to lay the final low noise asphalt surface on the new bypass in late 2018. This settlement period helps ensure a high quality final asphalt surface.

The Western Belfast Bypass is one of the six sections of the Christchurch Western Corridor, a multi-million dollar project that will transform State Highway 1 between Belfast and Hornby, reducing congestion, providing better walking and cycling connections and boosting safety.

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