More Funding For Major Road Link & Accident Sites

Transfund New Zealand today announced funding approval for further
new road construction projects totalling $16.2 million, as part of
its ongoing review of the 1999/2000 National Roading Programme
(NRP).

The largest project to get the green light is the $9.15 million
replacement of the Mokau Bridge on SH3, the key link route between
Waikato and Taranaki.

The present Mokau Bridge is an old single lane structure. It will
be replaced by a new, 2-lane concrete bridge on a new alignment.
This will strengthen the important link between the regions by
reducing the risk of failure, reducing traffic delays and improving
the approach alignment, especially for heavy vehicles on the
northern approach.

Transfund's latest NRP review has also given approval to several
other projects in Waikato and Bay of Plenty, notably those targeting
safety. A $1.27 million project on SH29 west of the Kaimai Range
will address the high number of loss-of-control crashes by
resurfacing 1.6 km of the highway with a 100mm thick asphalt
overlay.

At "Commodor Corner" on SH2, at the start of Athenree Gorge, $2.3
million will be spent realigning a series of tight curves where
loss-of-control crashes have occurred.

Transfund will also invest $1.63 million in the construction of a
large roundabout at the SH29 Oropi Road intersection in Tauranga, a
major accident blackspot highlighted by a further multiple vehicle
crash just last week. This project had been delayed while meeting
environmental resource consent conditions.

Transfund announced its 1999/2000 NRP budget of $930 million at
the end of June, and has already approved over $71 million of new
roading projects which have since met its funding criteria.

ENDS....

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