M2PP – Miles of life-saving barrier
The 18km, four-lane Mackays to Peka Peka Expressway that takes SH1 along the KÄpiti Coast is the first section of the Wellington Northern Corridor to be completed and opened to the public in February 2017. M2PP, as it is known by hundreds of project workers and suppliers, has many moving parts with CSP’s product range heavily featured along the length and breadth of the expressway- including many kms of Armorwire Rope Barrier and a number of Oclyte® Streetlight Columns.
“We supplied a number of products to the expressway, mainly Armorwire Cable Barrier and Oclyte® Streetlight Columns but there were also sections of Nu-Guard® 31 Guardrail System and a number of X-350 Terminal Ends,” explains Gemma Collins, Business Manager for CSP. “Although the expressway has been opened for some time we are still regularly supplying product for the repair of our Armorwire Rope Barrier after impacts from vehicles – which indicates it is doing its job.”
“Once the project opened to the public the M2PP Alliance became responsible for the barrier maintenance until the project was officially handed back to the NZ Transport Agency,” says Chris Harmer, Traffic Manager for Higgins Contractors. “Since opening in February 2017 there has been in the vicinity of 40 impacts to the Armorwire barrier. There have been both edge of road and median barrier impacts including several trigger or terminal end posts. In all of these impacts everyone has walked away from the crash, which is great to see, and in most cases we have been able to replace the posts and reinstate the barrier within minutes.”
Chris says that Higgins are involved in ongoing pavement work on the M2PP project and, since the maintenance of the barrier was handed back to the network managers late in 2017, they have set up and are operating their own barrier installation division, working with CSP for the supply of product. “As a result of the M2PP work we are tendering and gaining work across the country and using CSP for the supply of barrier. They do a good job and we know them well. The relationship is a good one,” he says.
Work is now well underway on the next section of the corridor, Peka Peka to Otaki or PPTO, a 13km section of expressway that joins into the end of M2PP and will eventually bypass Otaki.