Piles spread the load for road improvements

Towering pine poles beside the road on Hamilton’s Kahikatea Drive have caught the eye of motorists in recent weeks, and are an essential part of a NZ Transport Agency project to widen the state highway and install traffic lights.

The lights will be installed at the busy intersection where Gallagher Drive and Quentin Drive meet Kahikatea Drive (State Highway 1), and the pine pilings are being driven into the ground to make a stable base over the soft peat soils.

Contractor Fulton Hogan is using almost 1500 of the piles, ranging from 13m to 4m long, to penetrate through the peat and down to a hard sand layer. As the piles are inserted, they are covered with a concrete cap fitting and a reinforced aggregate mattress to spread the weight of the road evenly across the piles.

Installation of traffic lights, signalised pedestrian crossings and a change to the configuration of the road will improve safety for vehicles as well as for pedestrians and people on bikes crossing Kaihikatea Drive.
Hamilton City Council General Manager Infrastructure Chris Allen says the NZ Transport Agency project is coming at the right time.


Photo courtesy of Hamilton City Council

“These improvements are welcome at one of our city’s busier intersections, and the additional safety benefits are important as we see new developments in the area including a service station and a large hardware store,” Mr Allen says.

The $4m project is being co-funded by the Transport Agency, J and G Gallagher Management Ltd, Bunnings Warehouse, Dairy Goat Co-operative (NZ) Ltd, Sir Patrick Hogan, Waikato Tractors Ltd and the Hamilton City Council.

The project is expected to be complete by mid-August. Keep up to date on progress via the Transport Agency’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/nztawaikatobop.