The Waimakariri District Council this week gave the go ahead to upgrade water mains and stormwater drainage in the Canterbury town.
Motorists could face delays along State Highway 1 during the work.
Staff plan to install around 1300m of water main of various sizes along Main North Road (State Highway 1) through Woodend and 45m for a new stormwater main at the intersection of School Road and Main North Road.
The council’s water and wastewater asset manager Caroline Fahey said staff had considered delaying the work until the Woodend Bypass is completed, but wanted to ensure the infrastructure is resilient.
Ms Fahey said there was provision in the 2024/34 Long Term Plan to spend $1.37m on upgrading the Woodend stormwater drainage, which would be debt funded, but not until the later years of the 10 year plan.
She warned the cost was likely to be higher due to costs associated with traffic management and extending the original scope of work, including installing 250m of new mains.
A budget will be presented to the council in May to be included in this year’s 2026/27 annual plan.
There will be disruption to traffic, but staff will endeavour to communicate with local residents and will plan to reduce the impact, Ms Fahey said.
Once the Woodend Bypass is completed and becomes SH1, Main North Road through Woodend will revert to being a local road.
Mayor Dan Gordon said he supported the decision to bring the work forward.
‘‘It’s important work and we’ve got to continue doing it. We have seen what happens when councils don’t invest in infrastructure.’’
Cr Shona Powell said there was never a right time to do the work, ‘‘but the best time is before it fails’’.
‘‘And it’s better to do it before the Woodend Bypass is built, so when the road becomes a local road again people will actually get their road back.’’
Deputy Mayor Philip Redmond said keeping infrastructure up to date needed to be a priority.
‘‘We pride ourselves on having a long term infrastructure plan. Pipes do fail and we need to have a renewals plan to keep on top of the work.’’
Councillors approved a request from staff for an extra $60,000 to complete the design work at a council meeting last week.
No councillors expressed opposition to bringing the work forward.
The project is expected to go out for tender in July, with the aim of starting work in November. It is expected to take about three months.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
