Lessons learned from Walnut Avenue are already being put into practice for Ashburton’s next major road works project.
The Tinwald corridor will be upgraded next year with traffic signals and an upgraded rail crossing installed at the intersection of State Highway 1, Lagmhor Road, and Agnes Street intersection, similar to the recently completed Walnut Avenue upgrade.
The Walnut Ave project was criticised for taking too long, with a gap between Waka Kotahi and KiwiRail completing their parts of the project.
Fronting the Ashburton District Council, Waka Kotahi director regional relationships, James Caygill, said “taking lessons learned out of the Walnut Ave project”, Waka Kotahi is working closely with KiwiRail to get all the design work done before the project goes out for tender early next year.
“We should have the full design wrapped up by the end of the calendar year,” Caygill said.
“And with all things going well on [the tender] front, construction starting before the middle of next year.”
There is no estimated timeframe for completion yet until the project is tendered, he said.
“At this stage, you should expect substantial progress by the middle of next year.”
One change has been made to the designs from the public engagement with the Melcombe Street viaduct to remain open to two-way traffic, with monitoring to ensure that it works, Caygill said.
The proposal was for the viaduct to be left-out only to SH1, he said, but concerns were raised about the impacts of the limited access “and the way that would cascade back through the level crossings or other intersections”.
The Walnut Ave project was heavily scrutinised by the council and the community over its prolonged timing but Caygill was pleased the project was completed on time.
The community will hope that with Waka Kotahi working closer with KiwiRail before construction begins in Tinwald, the project will not take the 18 months Walnut Avenue did to complete.

• By Jonathan Leask