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Northern Corridor
 
Photo by Tania Templeton

Christchurch Northern Corridor

St Bede's College Office —

QEII Drive - Grimseys Road

PROJECT UPDATE 16 MAY 2018

PROGRESS AT QEII DRIVE WEST

The Christchurch Northern Corridor (CNC) Alliance team is on schedule to temporarily open the left out lane of traffic from Grimseys Road to QEII Drive on Friday 18 May.

TRAFFIC IMPACTS

Friday 18 May we can open part of the closed Grimseys Road and  QEII Drive intersection. Starting on that Friday, traffic will be able to leave Grimseys Road left out onto QEII Drive.

Opening the lane means we need to move some of the steel safety barriers on the evening of Thursday, 17 May. Traffic on QEII Drive will have to be stopped at times. Stop/go controls will be used. This may impact on your journey by up to five minutes. Please be aware of the changed traffic conditions, prepare to stop and allow extra time for your travel in this area.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Meanwhile work continues with building the two extra lanes on QEII Drive west between Main North Road and Grimseys Road. The excavation of the top soil layer and the installation of the bulk fill for the ground improvements have been completed. An extra layer of gravel (a surcharge) has been brought in and placed over the area where we need to place our drainage pipes. This is to weigh down and improve the wet and soft ground so that the pipes can sit in sturdy ground once we dig these in. The surcharge layer of gravel will need to settle for about a month before we install the drainage pipes. 

This work is expected to start late May. We also have street light cables to put in and then we can start building road pavement. More gravel will be brought onto site to achieve this.

In September this year we will start building the new Grimseys Road and QEII Drive intersection. We will close the intersection for this, and update you closer to the time.

ANIMATED FLYOVER

For more information on how the Christchurch Northern Corridor project will operate and what it will look like, watch the animation video on our project website www.nzta.govt.nz/cnc

MOVING STONES AROUND

The gravel pile on the motorway alignment between QEII Drive and Prestons Road is growing. But don’t panic, the motorway will not be this high. We are adding an extra 1 to 2 meters of gravel called surcharge. This gives the road extra weight so the ground will settle faster. Soon we will leave this area to ‘settle’.

This area has a settlement period of around seven months. After the settlement period you will see diggers and trucks coming in to scrape off the extra layer of gravel. This is to compress the ground below our construction faster. At the end of this (preloading) period the  surcharge load is removed, resulting in minimising post-construction settlements.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

  • Our standard construction work hours are Monday to Saturday between 7am and 7pm.
  • There will be increased noise and vibrations associated with most of the construction work. We will do what we can to minimise this.
  • Keep yourself and your children, as well as pets and stock at a safe distance from the work site. Please stay behind the construction fences at all times.
  • All work sites are subject to weather and other unforeseen conditions. Some jobs will be finishing early while others may be delayed or rescheduled.

You can call us on 0800 262 200 or email us at info@cncalliance.co.nz or visit our office at 145 Winters Road, accessed only from QEII Drive.