Subscribe to RSSNewmarket Viaduct To Be Stitched
Three of the four southbound lanes on the Newmarket viaduct will need to be closed for some hours this weekend for what NZTA is calling “the Stitch.”
Contractors have lifted the final segment of the new northbound bridge into place with the help of the big blue lifting gantry.
A total of 234 concrete segments, each weighing an average of 70 tonnes, have now been lifted into position to construct the new northbound viaduct.
But they now need to fill the 1.5 metre-wide gap between the new northern and southern viaducts to make one complete structure. The two viaducts will be concreted together during the weekend of December 3 and 4 in an 18 hour-long operation. The operation starts at 6pm on the Saturday and will be completed by midday on Sunday.
It will be necessary to close three of the four southbound lanes on the viaduct during the operation and this will cause disruption for drivers.
Diversions for southbound drivers will be in place from the Gillies Avenue offramp to the St Marks Road onramp.
The NZTA and its partners (Leighton Contractors, Fulton Hogan, VSL, URS, BECA, Tonkin & Taylor and Boffa Miskell) are constructing the new viaduct and deconstructing (removing) the old one built 1965 in stages while the motorway remains open.
When the Stitch is completed on December 4, work will continue to prepare the new northbound half of the viaduct for traffic. Switching traffic will happen over Auckland Anniversary Weekend, 28-30 January. All three northbound lanes over Newmarket will be closed to traffic for 36 hours to link the motorway to the new viaduct.
1 Comments
In a case of good planning the rail network is also being shutdown that same weekend for electrification works