The Wellington Northern Corridor - Levin to Wellington Airport - is one of seven roads of national significance that the Government has identified as essential state highways requiring upgrading. The Wellington Northern Corridor improvements are being constructed across eight different sections, one being the MacKays to Peka Peka (M2PP) route which has prompted Firth to upgrade two of it’s plants (Otaki and Kapiti) in readiness for the high volumes of concrete required.
The $630 million project will deliver 18km of four-lane expressway through Paraparaumu and Waikanae, including a new bridge over the Waikanae River. The new route will take approximately four years to build and will improve safety, reduce congestion and provide more reliable journey times into and through the Kapiti Coast.
“With the commencement of the M2PP and the bulk of the 45,000m3 of Firth concrete supply coming from the Paraparaumu plant we needed to transform this semi-rural plant to be faster, increased the truck fleet from six to 12 and tripled our manpower,” says Francis Leslie, National Asset and Logistics Manager for Firth.
The upgrade also required Firth to increase parking spaces on site, improve truck washout facilities, increase ground storage for aggregates and install a flyash silo for specialised concretes.
With the upgrades to the plants completed Firth started working with the M2PP Alliance in June on the initial piles for the bridge that will eventually cross the Waikanae River.
“Concrete started flowing at 5:20am that morning with great service from Firth,” says Matt Zame, Foundations Construction Manager for the M2PP Alliance. “251m3 - or 50 truckloads later - and the tremmie pour was complete. The access platforms were then removed, the big 3.0dia casing withdrawn, the temporary guide frame installed and the column cage was plunged into position – completing the first of 23 piles at 12:10pm.”
“Great work and a big thank you to the M2PP Design Team, Central Zone Team, Plant Yard and of course Firth - 33 more to go!”