Orange TL-1 hire barriers out in numbers
Work began in April of 2008 on the Central Connector project undertaken by Auckland City Council and will make bus travel easier for over 65,000 passengers each weekday. Cycle and pedestrian facilities between the CBD and Newmarket will also receive an upgrade.
The project involves creating bus lanes from the Britomart Transport Centre, running along Customs Street and Beach Road, up Anzac Avenue and Symonds Street, across Grafton Bridge and along Park Road, to link up with existing bus lanes on Khyber Pass Road. A large section of the route will be dedicated 24-hour bus lanes.
Fulton Hogan Ltd, the main contractor appointed by Auckland City Council, have a difficult job in maintaining order on the roads of central Auckland whilst trying to complete the required work within deadlines.
"Initially we thought we would be upgrading small sections of the road at a time," said Stuart Baulch, Safety, Quality, Traffic Control and Environmental Manager (SQTCE) for Fulton Hogan Ltd. "So we purchased what we thought would be a sufficient number of water filled and pedestrian barriers to cordon off work zones from existing traffic flows."
"However deadlines changed and we have worked on much larger sections of road at a time," added Stuart. "Thankfully my predecessor had dealt with David Russell, the Hire Manager for CSP, on previous projects and when I contacted him to see if he was able to assist with additional barriers he was happy to help."
Purchasing the total number of barriers required for the contract was not an option for Fulton Hogan as storage after completion of the contract would have been a problem, logistically. It could also be quite some time before they would utilise this quantity of barriers on a project again. Hiring the barriers was the smartest and most economic option for Fulton Hogan Ltd.
"We have an 18 month contract with Fulton Hogan Ltd for 460 of the TL-1, (Test Level 1) water-filled plastic barriers and 314 pedestrian barricades," says David. "I have been in regular contact with Stuart for his changing requirements depending on the location of the work zone." "David and CSP have been great throughout this process," adds Stuart. "Communication has been good and I am thoroughly pleased with our dealings. We will definitely be contacting them again when the need arises." |
The Anzac Avenue section of the project is complete and approximately 50% of the Symonds Street and Park Rd sections of the project are now complete. The pressure is on Fulton Hogan to finish the section of road directly outside the University before "March madness", when the university year officially begins, bringing some 40,000 university staff and students back into the area.