Work to improve electricity network resilience and increase drinking water services is to be carried out for the fast-growing eastern suburbs.
Porirua City Council, Wellington Electricity, Wellington Water and Kāinga Ora are teaming up to carry out critical infrastructure service upgrades along link roads, at the same time. These upgrades will increase resilience and supply for local residents and will benefit Porirua as a whole, but will cause traffic disruption during the work.
The Waitangirua and Te Ara Kāpehu (Whitby) Link Roads Project breaks ground in early November, and will take about seven months to complete.
Stage 1 – full closure
Porirua City Council General Manager Infrastructure Mike Mendonça said the first stage of the construction work is due to start in early November and requires the full closure of Waitangirua Link Road (from Warspite Avenue to the T-junction with Te Ara Kāpehu/the Whitby Link Road). This stage is expected to take up to five months to complete.
“During the closure, drinking water pipes will be laid, along with cabling for electricity network upgrades. Teaming up to do this infrastructure work means we only need to close the road once, rather than twice, which would have been more inconvenient to road users,” he said.
“For the work to be completed as quickly and efficiently as possible, the decision has been made to fully close the road, so work crews have unimpeded access to the site.
“If we were to keep the road partially open the work would take considerably longer and cost considerably more. Once the cabling and pipework is completed, the road will be fully resurfaced.”
Stage 2 – partial lane closure
The second stage of work will take place along Te Ara Kāpehu Link Road (between Silverbrooke and the roundabout before the Transmission Gully on-ramp) also to lay water pipes and power cabling.
This work is scheduled to happen once the first stage is complete, and the Waitangirua Link Road is back open. The intention is that one lane will remain open with traffic management measures expected to be in place for about two months.
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker acknowledges the work will be disruptive for regular users of the link roads, and individuals and businesses living and operating in the area.
“We know eastern Porirua is growing quickly, so this work is important to increase resilience and future capacity of the electricity network for this part of the city and to enable improved drinking water supply for eastern Porirua and Whitby,” Mayor Baker said.
“To keep disruption to a minimum, we are working together using a ‘dig once’ approach to get water and electricity upgrades done at the same time. Although this may seem like basic commonsense it’s not always achievable with different entities having competing priorities and timeframes,” she said.
While the road is closed, Council will also take the opportunity to remove wilding pine trees, clear vegetation and install signage for the increased speed limit on the Waitangirua Link Road, which is being raised to 60km/h as part of the Speed Management Plan for Porirua City.
“We encourage motorists to plan their journeys using alternative routes and allow extra time, and we’re grateful for everyone’s patience while this important work is done,” Mayor Baker said.
What the work involves
Improved electricity network resilience and future capacity
Council will work with Wellington Electricity to lay new power cables. This work will increase the resilience of eastern Porirua’s electricity network, helping to ensure safe and reliable power for decades to come.
New cables will also allow future capacity increases, anticipating housing growth as this area continues to expand.
Improved water supply
An additional 2.4 km of drinking water pipes will connect to the new, larger reservoir to be built at the end of Stemhead Lane.
This will cater for future demand on Porirua’s drinking water network and improve network resilience by adding a second connection to upper Whitby and providing capacity in case of an emergency. These upgrades also reduce and ultimately remove current reliance on pump stations.
The new reservoir is planned for construction in the first half of 2025 and will be delivered by Te Rā Nui. It will increase the amount of water available from 4.5 million litres to 13.5 million litres.