| 77 T T Hugh de Lacy Stormwater on track The Tasman District Council’s $4.5m Motueka West stormwater discharge system is on track for completion ahead of schedule. INFRASTRUCTURE Tasman District Council: Fulton Hogan - Motueka Stormwater The Nelson/Tasman weather has been so kind through the early winter that the Tasman District Council’s $4.5m Motueka West stormwater discharge system is on track for completion at the end of June, rather than the target date of early September. The project is a major for Motueka which required a complex stormwater drainage system to allow the residential development of land to the west. In its initial stages the sub-division on the serviced land will accommodate up to 200 houses, but considerably more are expected to be built there further down the track. The Motueka West Development area covers 126 ha and the stormwater discharge project involves building culverts to take the water underneath Motueka’s High Street - part of State Highway 60 - along Lowe Street, across Woodlands Avenue and through the Motueka Christian Fellowship’s property to the Woodlands Drain. “We’ve had an incredible run of fine weather, even for Motueka, and we’ve been able to bring the contractual finish date forward, much to everyone’s satisfaction,” the Tasman District Council’s Project Manager, Giles Griffith says. “The water ends up going into Woodlands Creek, but getting it there is technically challenging, requiring two mixing chambers within the 500m pipeline to convert the flow firstly from one pipe to four, then back to three to reach the outlet.” The mixing chambers have a footprint of about 5m by 3m and are built of pre-cast concrete. Installing the pipeline will require the closure of High Street, from Lowe Street to Wratt Street, for up to 12 days in mid-late June. The council warned the public significant detours would be required, with northbound traffic following King Edward, Queen Victoria and Whakarewa Streets, and southbound traffic diverted along Tudor Street to Thorp Street and along Old Wharf Road. A key side-benefit of the project is that it will alleviate localised flooding on High Street and at the Woodlands Avenue/Lowe Street intersection. At the same time as the High Street closure, pipes and new stormwater collection points will be installed at the Wratt Street/High Street intersection to reduce localized flooding in High Street. The head contractor for the project is Fulton Hogan, with Nelson’s Ching Contracting as the main sub-contractor. The work began early this year, and was expected to take six months. Giles says the project was an important one for Motueka because it opened up the west of the town to development at a time when the Nelson property market remains one of the most vigorous in the country, and increasing numbers of people are shifting to the Tasman District from the likes of Auckland for the weather and the small-town ambience. “The fact that the project is also going to reduce the danger of flooding in these times of extreme weather events is also reassuring,” he says. Motueka is 42km west of Nelson and is the second-largest population centre in the district, with 8320 residents recorded in the 2023 census. Its attractions include the popular Kaiteriteri and Marahau beaches, made all the more attractive by the area having one of the country’s highest sunshine-hours indices. It’s a fruit-growing district – especially apples, pears and kiwifruit – as well as specialist crops like hops. It also used to be where much of the country’s tobacco was grown, but that industry was closed down in the 1980s. 027 453 3246 | 027453 3034 PO Box 3555 Richmond Kerbing specialists, General Concrete work Phone Chris Trathen or Craig Ingham chris@notjustconcrete.co.nz craig@notjustconcrete.co.nz 75 Parkers Rd, Tahunanui, Nelson | 03 548 6491 | www.ikc.co.nz INDEPENDENT KERB & CONCRETE Pleased to be associated With Tasman District Council ChingContracting BUI LDING OUR FUTURE IN NELSON & TASMAN Civil Infrastructure Specialists • Subdivisions • Wastewater • Stormwater • PotableWater • PE PipeWelding • Bulk Earthworks • Metalcourse Construction admin@chings.co.nz +64 (3) 547 4516 www.chings.co.nz 12 Echodale Place, Stoke, Nelson
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=