Fulton Hogan employee Greg Dawson, of Alexandra, works on
kerbing for the new roundabout at the three-way
intersection in the centre of Alexandra.
Original plans to have the roundabout being constructed
at the intersection of Alexandra's main streets completed this
month have been delayed.
A three-way, single-lane intersection is in the process of
being constructed at the intersection of Tarbert St,
Centennial Ave and Dunorling St.
A pedestrian crossing on Dunorling St is also being moved
further towards the new roundabout as part of the work.
New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) Central Otago area
manager John Jarvis said the work was unlikely to be finished
until mid-November as Central Otago District Council (CODC)
was using the opportunity to improve water mains.
"Everything's basically on track; it's just the fact the
water services have to go in first so that's had an impact on
the programme," Mr Jarvis said.
Initially NZTA had not known about the work which needed to
be done on the pipelines, he said.
"It was [October] always going to be an ambitious target date
. . . that was what we hoped to target initially before we
started.
"The actual roundabout hasn't changed."
Fulton Hogan staff who had been contracted to do the work
were doing kerbing work at present, he said.
"We've done a lot of work to fast-track everything as much as
we can."
CODC manager of assets and contracts Murray Washington said a
decision was made to undertake improvement work on Dunorling
St and close off some mains while the work was being done on
the roundabout.
"The utilities work directly affecting the roundabout was
programmed and completed in five working days . . . any work
affecting their programme was complete [on] October 2," Mr
Washington said.
A working arrangement between the contractors Fulton Hogan
and Delta Utility Services had been established under the
guidance of NZTA, Opus International Consultants and CODC,
and the work, estimated to cost $130,000, was being paid for
from existing Alexandra water supply renewal budgets, he
said.
Utility pipes in the vicinity of the roundabout needed to be
upgraded to 300mm and 150mm pipes.
An area on the road that had recently been re-surfaced in
nearby Ennis St had needed to be dug up.
"The footpath was going to have to be modified to suit the
new pedestrian crossing and kerb alignments and also to blank
off redundant mains in and between Tarbert St and Ennis St.
"The full ramifications of redundant pipes in Tarbert St
weren't known when Ennis St was resurfaced 12 months ago.
"To achieve the best result we need to blank off some lines
at Ennis St."
The NZTA tender allowed for the work on the roundabout to be
completed by early December.
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