Masterton District Council is taking advantage of the school holidays to carry out major renewal work on the Renall St-Ngaumutawa Road roundabout, which will require traffic diversions for two weeks from Monday 15 April.

School-day traffic is the major cause of congestion at the roundabout, and it is hoped to minimise disruption to these users by scheduling the essential work at this time.

However, the job will entirely close a lane of Ngaumutawa Road for a week at a time, necessitating several diversions using Pownal Street, and Cornwall, Akura, Kibblewhite, Upper Plain, and Chamberlain Roads.

The work involves removing about 300mm of the road surface, effectively down to bare earth, and first constructing a new base for the seal, followed by subsequent layering of new road seal. The site will remain closed to traffic overnight.

The first phase of the project will involve the southbound side of the roundabout, from 15 April, with work on the northbound lane scheduled to start on 22 April, when the southbound lane will reopen.

Council Roading Services Manager Kaine Jaquiery said the work was essential given the age of the roundabout.

“The roundabout surface has reached its end-of-life point – regular users will have noticed the deterioration. It’s about 30 years since this work was last carried out and now is the scheduled time to get it done.

“We have timed the work to try and minimise disruption, particularly for school drop-offs and pick-ups, but we appreciate this will be an inconvenience for people who use the roundabout.”

Diversion routes will be fully signposted (see indicative map below).

The work is costing around $450,000 – with 56 per cent subsidy from NZTA.

Following completion of the roundabout, work will be carried out on resealing the section of Renall Street from the roundabout to College Street, taking about a week. The road will be passable to residents when work is not underway. This will cost around $140,000, also with a 56 per cent subsidy.

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