Go-Ahead For West Coast Road Realignment

Transfund New Zealand today announced funding approval for
further new road construction projects totalling $16.2 million, as
part of its ongoing review of the 1999/2000 National Roading
Programme (NRP).

Among the South Island projects to gain approval is the $1.2
million realignment of SH6 at Kaihinu, north of Hokitika, where two
extremely tight corners have resulted in crashes.

The new alignment will follow the railway line on its eastern side,
off the south end of the Arahura River bridge, meeting the present
highway at Kaihinu and bypassing the two corners.

Transfund has also approved funding for the design stage of two
Otago projects still in the pipeline. One aims to reduce shaded
sections of State highways 1 and 8 in the Clutha area, which cause
ice formation leading to loss of control. The other, on SH1, will
reduce slumping of the pavement by improving the drainage of an
unstable slope.

North Island projects to gain funding approval include the
replacement of the single lane Mokau Bridge on SH3 with a 2-lane
concrete structure, at a cost of $9.15 million. This project will
strengthen the key link between Taranaki and Waikato.

A number of newly approved projects in the Waikato and Bay of
Plenty regions are targeting safety improvements such as the
realignment of curves in the Athenree Gorge on SH2 and on SH29 west
of the Kaimai Range. Construction of a large roundabout at the Oropi
Road SH2 intersection in Tauranga is designed to reduce accidents at
this blackspot.

Transfund announced its 1999/2000 NRP budget of $930 million at
the end of June, and has already approved over $71 million of new
roading projects which have since met its funding criteria.

ENDS....

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