Pōkeno Main Street Project Update
as of 05 July 2024
Kia ora everyone,
Hope everyone’s staying warm and enjoying the nice crisp winter days!
What’s happened in the last weeks:
Main Street
Traffic lights were commissioned and became operational in the last couple of weeks. It was great to observe quite a few pedestrians enjoying safe passage across the street.
Roundabout
The remainder of earthworks in the current stage were complete and Scala testing (to test soil compaction), confirmed the ground was good for surfacing.
A new speed table was constructed with entry and exit ramps formed either side. Working in the same area, we completed prep of the traffic island for pouring next week.
The big disappointment this week was some very-poorly timed downpours! We carried out saturation tests that confirmed the worst and meant a delay until next week. It’s never fun to have to send crews away and rebook them for a later date! Note: Years of data tells us that moisture over a certain percentage leads to road surfaces failing prematurely.
All in all, good progress was made as we remain on schedule to switch sides of the roundabout in a week or so.
What’s happening over the next week or 2:
Roundabout
The traffic island’s getting poured next week which means the first piece of the puzzle’s in place! The weather looks like playing ball, so we’ll get back to sealing the lanes ready we planned to do this week.
The biggest change you’ll see in the next fortnight is a new site and traffic layout.
As we wind up our current worksite (footprint), we’ll switch sides of the road, and establish over the piece of road you’re currently driving through. Traffic will then drive around the formed part of the roundabout (the opposite side of where you drive through now) and out the new tail towards town. We are scoping out the possibility of adding a right turn at the roundabout - off the expressway to head up Pokeno Road, and thoroughfare from Pokeno Road directly through the roundabout, into town. I’ll have that answer for you on that next week.
Once established we’ll be stuck into the new site. Milling the old road surface, commencing drainage work, and the obligatory earthworks.
Note: I will send out detailed and clear plans of the new traffic flow before it occurs. Expect this to come to you directly next week.
Have a great weekend and please contact me directly with any questions or concerns.
If I don’t have the answer, I can find it for you!
What’s happening over the next week or 2:
Main Street
Counties Power will be installing the traffic signal meter and ensuring the lights are good to go.
The new seats are ready to go and it’s just the planter surrounds that need tweaking by our supplier. It’s not practical to install these at separate times so we’ll wait for everything to be available before swinging them into place off a hi-ab. These are large bespoke concrete works and we don’t have certainty on delivery just yet.
The biggest change you will see next week is that the traffic management kit (barriers and cones) will be removed. We’d intended to wait for everything to be complete, but with uncertainty around the planter surround, we’ll crack on and open up the northbound side of Main Street.
This means there will be extra parks outside shops, new parks tucked around Marlborough Street (up to the barrier) will be accessible, and it will be possible to drive northbound as far as the roundabout site.
We appreciate this is still restrictive as driving north through the roundabout site is still not possible, however, we hope this provides that wee bit more access, parking and manoeuvrability many of you have been asking for.
Roundabout
More of the same at the roundabout site. We’ll keep building up a solid sub-base as this is what will help the roundabout endure for many, many years to come!
Weather permitting we’ll get to lay more sections of kerb and channel around the centre island. Regardless, the prep work will get done for both this and a new speed table.
