No respite for ‘cone town’

No respite for ‘cone town’

Anyone seeing the road works around town progressing to what they hope will be completion will be disappointed.

In what Kāpiti Coast District Council says is “next construction season” – with no definite timeline but “early 2026” – Mill Road will be resurfaced from Raukawa Marae to old State Highway 1, perpetuating Ōtaki’s “cone town” reputation. There’s no doubt the work needs to be done. Road users are currently enduring a bumpy ride that strains the endurance of vehicle suspension and human spine in equal measure.

With the laying of essential new pipes from Aotaki Street through to the BP roundabout, which began 16 months ago, both roads have become littered with potholes and uneven surfaces as contractors refill the trenches. 

The project has involved digging a trench in the road, laying the new wastewater pipe, installing 44 new manholes, backfilling and spot resealing the road surface. New wastewater pipes have also been connected to several homes and a new water main has been laid along a section of Mill Road.

The council says for several reasons – including the need to build the road during the winter months – the replaced road surface has become uneven in places and deteriorated. Repairs will be staged, and already resurfacing work has begun on Aotaki Street.

On Mill Road, a harder-wearing asphalt surface will be installed at high-traffic-volume areas, such as intersections.

“This will provide a superior and longer lasting road surface,” the council says.

Into the second week of November, road workers in the township were continuing to lay a pipe from the centre of the Mill Road/Aotaki Street roundabout heading onto the northern section of Aotaki Street. Work was well under way to finish the roundabout concrete works – many in Ōtaki will be pleased to see it completed.

On Mill Road, the crew has trenched up to the Rāhui Road side of the BP roundabout, progressing towards the expressway overbridge. The roundabout will be resurfaced.

As of early November, the Mill Road crew was completing road surface repairs and sewer connections to homes and properties.

Traffic management layout will vary during the next couple of months as work progress through the BP roundabout upgrade. Rāhui Road will remain closed until mid-to-late December.

Workers will continue laying the new pipeline along Rāhui Road. The council is in the planning stages for the last section (under and east of the expressway). The works will be in two parts, to begin some time in 2026.

The council is about to go to tender to find a contractor to tunnel under the expressway and in the new year it will tender for a contractor to lay the new pipe. The pipe will increase capacity to serve the existing community and proposed development in the area. The exact route and length of the pipe is yet to be confirmed.

The council could not say whether the pipe was intended to go into Te Roto Road. It’s notable that about 500 residential units are planned at the Ōtaki-Māori Racing Club – Te Roto Road is on the western boundary.

In revocation works (where NZTA is upgrading old State Highway 1 before handing it over to the council), the contractor has finished the footpath works from the northern end of the Railway through to the pedestrian crossing lights. In early November they were working to replace the kerb and channel into Arthur Street.

While a new footpath is being laid, pedestrian access to the doors of all shops in the Railway area is being maintained. The work is being done in small areas with crews working longer hours to speed it up.

Most of the civil work at the Riverbank Road intersection, including new road pavement is finished. The nearby stormwater network upgrades have been completed. Electrical work will need to be done before the traffic signals can go live.