Tawa Main Road Watermain Project

The team have worked hard since returning on January 8th to complete the project to complete the project on 19 January.

Main Road Tawa reopened to two-way traffic late Friday January 19th.

A huge thank you to the local community, businesses and schools for your understanding and support. This has enabled the team to complete the installation of the new resilient watermain for Tawa, improving the drinking water network’s performance, reducing the risk of
emergency repairs and/or outages, and ensuring a more reliable water supply for the area.

We wanted to provide you with an update on progress with the Main Road watermain renewals as Wellington Water with partners HEB work to complete this project on behalf of Wellington City Council.

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen issues with underground services and noise restrictions when working at night we will not be able to finish works on site by 22 December as we had hoped. Completion of the project has been moved out to January. Our crews will be continuing to work hard up to the pre-Christmas period and start work again around 8 January for up to three weeks to fully complete the project before school restarts late in January.

The good news is that the detour through Redwood Ave will be removed around 21 December and traffic will be able to use Main Road for both directions until 8 January when the detour will be set up again for up to three weeks.

Throughout the rest of this week crews will continue with reinstating the road surfaces and carrying out a general tidy up. During January, we will be doing reinstatement works at the roundabout and final finishing works such as painting the road markings. We will need to do some of the roundabout works at night when traffic volumes are less. The team will be working hard to keep any noise to a minimum and thank close-by residents for their understanding.

Again, a huge thank you to the local community including residents and businesses for your understanding and support as we deliver a resilient new watermain for Tawa. For more information on the project, updates, and a copy of the detour map visit:

www.wellingtonwater.co.nz/projects/tawa-main-road-watermain-project/

After hours, please call the Wellington City Council Call Centre on 04 499 4444.

If you have a complaint, please call 04 912 4470 or email customer@wellingtonwater.co.nz to access our free complaints process. If we cannot resolve your complaint, you can contact Utilities Disputes on 0800 22 33 40 or go to www.utilitiesdisputes.co.nz. Utilities Disputes is a free and independent service for resolving complaints about utilities providers. Thank you for your patience as we work to improve the city’s infrastructure.

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen issues with underground services and noise restrictions when working at night we will not be able to finish works on site by 22 December as we had hoped. Completion of the project has been moved out to January.  Our crews will be continuing to work hard up to the pre-Christmas period and start work again around 8 January for up to three weeks to fully complete the project before school restarts late in January.

The good news is that the detour through Redwood Ave will be removed around 21 December and traffic will be able to use Main Road for both directions until 8 January when the detour will be set up again for up to three weeks.

Up until 22 December, crews will continue with reinstating the road surfaces and carrying out a general tidy up. During January, we will be doing reinstatement works at the roundabout and final finishing works such as painting the road markings. We will need to do some of the roundabout works at night when traffic volumes are less. The team will be working hard to keep any noise to a minimum and thank close-by residents for their understanding

Our crews will be making their best efforts to get works on site finished by 22 December. 

This does mean works will continue through the pre-Christmas period, but the priority is to get this project fully completed for a clear Christmas break and fresh start for the community in the New Year.

Meanwhile, throughout the rest of November, crews will continue with completing valve and fire hydrant blocks along the new watermain, start to reinstate the road surface and carry out a series of technical tests.

Then during December, we will be connecting both ends of the new watermain to the existing watermains and changing over all the water services for each property to come from the new watermain – and disconnecting the old watermain from the existing mains.

Some of the connection work will need to be done night when water demand is low.  The team will be working hard to keep any noise to a minimum and we do thank close-by residents for their understanding.

The final touches will then be completed with road surface reinstatement, paint road markings and tidying up site.

So far, we've made great progress. Since construction started in early July about 340 metres of pipe has been laid - almost ¾ of the total section being renewed.

We know this important project has caused some disruption, and really appreciate your patience. As always, Wellington Water, Wellington City Council, and the contractor are committed to completing the work as soon as possible.

The first stage of the project is planned for 17 to the 21 of April with a week-long period digging a series of holes in the road, to locate services and check the subsoil conditions for the method of the works. The northbound lane of Main Road will need to be closed for the week of the investigations, from 68 Main Road to Redwood Avenue roundabout.

A detour along Redwood Avenue will be put in place for northbound traffic – as shown in the enclosed map. To allow northbound traffic space to pass through we will be closing off all resident parking on the northbound side of this road. All resident parking will remain open on the southbound side. It would help us to have parked vehicles on that side of the road removed on the day prior (16 April). When using the detour try to only drive northbound. If driving south it is preferred to use Main Road.

Since the investigations work is planned for during the school holidays, school bus services should not be affected. For bus route changes during this week please go to their website at www.metlink.org.nz