Traffic flows along new bypass

CAMERON BURNELL/Taranaki Daily News

YOU BEAUTY: After years of waiting, traffic finally flows along the Bell Block bypass.

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Like water moving down a brand-new channel, traffic began flowing along Taranaki's latest section of highway yesterday.

It was all so sudden, too.

At 10.45am around 100 invited guests were standing on the $21 million Bell Block Bypass to watch Transport Minister Steven Joyce officially open the road.

A few minutes later, roading officials removed barriers at the northern end of the bypass – and normal everyday traffic began streaming across the brand-new tarmac towards New Plymouth.

Shortly afterwards, the barriers at the southern end were removed, and within seconds the traffic was flowing in both directions.

With access to and from the old piece of State Highway 3 by then officially blocked off, traffic to and from Bell Block township also began using the on and off-ramps connecting to the new Henwood Rd interchange bridge.

As 11am ticked over and all the guests were enjoying morning tea at the nearby Pacific International Hotel Management School, the traffic was flowing smoothly along the bypass on the other side of the fence – just as it should on a good section of highway.

At this stage the traffic flow is slow, however.

A speed restriction of 70 kmh is in place while work on the new road's shoulders is completed, and yesterday this was causing substantial traffic holdups.

But this work is expected to be finished in June, at which time the speed limit will increase to the usual maximum of 100 kmh.

MC for the official ceremony was the New Zealand Transport Agency's long-serving Wanganui-based state highways manager, Errol Christiansen.

He was beaming as he watched the opening of his final highways construction project before his retirement.

For the record, the project included construction of a new highway bridge and two new underpasses, has 83,000 square metres of surfacing, 100,000 cubic metres of earthworks and 50,000 cubic metres of pavement layers, and involved the relocation of a significant number of services, including trunk water mains, gas pipelines, and telecommunications cables.

"It's unbelievable that it was three years ago that we turned the first sod for this bypass project – and now, all of a sudden, we're at the other end of the business," Mr Christiansen said.

The 3.5km stretch of new road now separates local and highway traffic, with the Henwood Rd interchange providing direct access to Bell Block township and the nearby industrial area.

About 2.5km of the new road is four lanes, and 1km is two lanes.

- © Fairfax NZ News