Hutt's new 'entrance way' taking shape and on time

Work on a major roading project is 20 per cent complete and on schedule, Transit says.

The $60 million Dowse-to-Petone project, which covers a 2.7-kilometre stretch of State Highway 2 at Lower Hutt, was started in August last year.

More than 40 piles that will support bridges are now standing, some traffic has been diverted on to new routes and the contours of a large interchange at Dowse Drive are emerging.

Project manager Hannah Hyde said beams across State Highway 2 would be laid in the next few weeks, and those across parallel Hutt Rd would follow later in the year.

The interchange would be finished by early next year, and the whole project should be completed by early in 2010.

When the Dowse Drive area - which includes a large raised roundabout - was finished, the focus of the work would move south to Korokoro, Ms Hyde said.

An existing raised intersection on State Highway 2 near Petone would in effect be levelled, and three sets of traffic lights would be dispensed with.

The project has previously been hailed by Lower Hutt Mayor David Ogden as providing a much-needed "entrance to the city".

Ms Hyde said the project was intended to make traffic flow more efficiently through the area and to better link the state highway and the city.

Hutt South MP Trevor Mallard said it was encouraging to see the good progress in the project.

It had been helped by the region's long summer.

"The serendipity of the weather has been absolutely wonderful."

Despite the tight physical space for the project, few complaints had been received about the work, he said.

The project also features an extended pedestrian footbridge and provision for safer cycling.