One day detour to help ease congestion at major Taupo intersection

To ease congestion during major earthworks at the SH1/SH5 intersection at Wairakei, a detour for all southbound traffic will be put into place for Sunday 14 February.

The detour will mainly affect southbound traffic which will be diverted down Link Road on the approach to the Wairakei intersection. Residents between Link Rd and the Wairakei intersection will still have full access to their properties but will also need to use the Link Road detour into Taupo.

Andrew McRae, Fulton Hogan Project Manager says the one day detour is to allow necessary work which is the next phase of re-aligning a portion of SH1 leading to safer sight distances for motorists when they enter the new roundabout. “We currently have stop/go traffic management in place as part of the construction of the roundabout, however for this phase we estimate the impact on motorists would be considerable with queue’s of up to 6km causing major delays in travel times.” He says the detour is a better short term option to maintain traffic flows and minimise disruption.

Detour details:
Commencing 6.30am to 7.00pm Sunday 14th February 2010:

• All SH1 southbound traffic to be diverted via Link Road to Taupo.
• SH1 northbound traffic and all SH5 Rotorua/Taupo traffic will be unaffected.
• Wairakei Village residents will need to use SH5 entrance and exit.
• All residents between Link Road and Wairakei wishing to travel south to Taupo will be required to use Link Road, but will have full access to their properties south of Link Road.
• Once this phase is complete, there will be ongoing temporary traffic management as previously notified with another detour scheduled later in February.

ETA Project Manager Ron Boyle says, “we apologise to motorists and residents for the inconvenience caused but we are at an exciting phase of the ETA construction. The usual congestion for southbound traffic at the SH1/Wairakei intersection into Taupo will become a distant memory once the new roundabouts are completed and traffic flows into Taupo improve.”

Currently the completion date for the 16km East Taupo Arterial is March 2011, however due to significant progress made in the past year completion is expected to take place before Christmas this year.