- Hon Chris Bishop
Construction is set to start next week on an upgrade to the rail crossing on State Highway 1B Telephone Road, east of Hamilton, which will reopen to traffic by the middle of the year, Minister of Transport Chris Bishop says.
"Economic growth and productivity are a priority for the Government, and I'm pleased this upgrade work is finally getting underway to enable the road to reopen to vehicles and freight," Mr Bishop says.
"The package of improvements being delivered will see the road level raised, and new escape lanes built. The road surface will be raised by up to 410mm over a distance of 90 metres on Telephone Road north of the rail crossing and on Telephone Road/Holland Road/Marshmeadow Road south of the rail crossing.
"Escape lanes built on the north side of Holland Road, will ensure longer vehicles heading south do not stack across the rail line as they wait to turn into Holland Road. For vehicles travelling east on Holland Road and wanting to turn left into Telephone Road, the escape lane provides a safe place to wait if access to Telephone Road is blocked by a train.
"Safety at the intersection will also be improved with more line marking and signage, including new electronic warning signs when a train is approaching.
"As part of the upgrade involves raising the road level, from Wednesday 19 February the intersection of Telephone Road, Holland Road and Marshmeadow Road will be closed to all traffic until the end of construction. This is expected to take around 3 months.
"I appreciate the patience of the local community, and strong advocacy of local MP Tim Van de Molen, to bring us to this important milestone. I also want to thank NZTA, KiwiRail, and Waikato District Council for their work to find a pragmatic and cost-effective solution. I look forward to this work being completed as soon as possible, so we get traffic moving over the rail crossing once again."
Notes to Editor:
- The rail crossing on SH1B Telephone Road was previously considered one of the most dangerous in New Zealand. The crossing was not level, resulting in low vehicles scraping rail and, in April 2022, dislodging a section of track. The distance between the rail and the intersection was also short, resulting in a high collision risk as cars wait to turn onto Holland Road. Both of these risks are being addressed in this work, enabling a safe reopening of the crossing.
- As a result of an incident in April 2022 KiwiRail and NZTA decided to immediately close the rail crossing until it could satisfy the safety requirements to reopen. Since then, SH1B traffic has been required to detour along Holland Road, Waverley Road and Seddon Road, adding approximately 10 minutes to through journeys.
- Following the closure, NZTA commissioned a detailed report on the future options for the crossing from consultants WSP. The report explored a range of options from low-cost interventions such as barrier arms, limited access to light vehicles and judder bars, to more complex options that involved significant engineering work to reconfigure the rail crossing and adjacent intersection.
- NZTA remained committed to investigating practical and affordable solutions to allow the Telephone Road railway crossing to reopen and continued to work with KiwiRail. This led to the new design which met requirements to allow the rail crossing to reopen.
- Another important factor in the new design meeting safety requirements is the reduction in traffic volumes, particularly the lower number of trucks, using SH1B following the completion of the Hamilton section of the Waikato Expressway.
