Sea wall repairs a chance to widen road to Aramoana

The first phase of a long-term project to widen the road from Aramoana to Port Chalmers is due to begin shortly, with the first contract package awarded recently.

Dunedin City Council projects engineer Evan Matheson said work to repair areas of the sea wall between Aramoana and Port Chalmers was expected to begin in three to four weeks and would include road-widening work to accommodate a future cycle and walkway between the two communities.

"It's sea wall repair work they are actually doing, but as it happens we can take advantage of just how the sea wall is positioned in relation to the road to carry out some widening work as well," he said.

"Three of the four sections lend themselves to a little bit of widening work, within the current consents, which will give us 270m of road and sea wall, which will be widened out for a future cycle way."

Mr Matheson said the road-widening work was estimated to cost about $1.2 million a kilometre, but carrying out the repair and some widening work together on the 270m section could save the council between $50,000 and $100,000 during this phase of the project alone.

The initial sea wall and road-widening work, which will be carried out by Amalgamated Stonemasons, was scheduled for completion by April next year, but was likely to be completed sooner, Mr Matheson said.

It was the first time the council had considered road widening in conjunction with annual sea-wall repairs.

"We carry out sea wall repairs every year along Aramoana Rd, Port Chalmers Rd, and Harrington Point Rd for instance, but this is the first time we've made a conscious effort to pick sites which would allow us to incorporate widening.

"The sea wall needs repairing and these sites tick all the boxes to allow us to carry out the necessary work and leave us scope to widen the road at the same time."

Mr Matheson said the initial work complied with existing consents, but future work would require widening beyond what current consents allowed.

It was hoped the about 9km-long joint cycle and walkway from Port Chalmers to Aramoana would be completed by 2025, Mr Matheson said.

"This current work is just a very small step in the process."