Tree-Felling Near the State Highway in Your Area

4 March 2017

Dear Resident

Tree-felling near the state highway in your area

The New Zealand Transport Agency will be felling and removing roadside trees and vegetation at night immediately south of the portal leading from Johnsonville to the Ngauranga Gorge on-ramp. This work is part of the agency’s responsibility to maintain state highways across the country and is a safety precaution where trees and vegetation have been identified as likely to fall onto the highway and create a hazard. The work is expected to take 3 nights from Tuesday 7 March to Thursday 9 March. Crews will be on-site from 7pm to 5.30am, with tree works starting about 10pm when the exit from Johnsonville to the onramp and Newlands will be closed to traffic. If wet or windy weather should strike, the work will be postponed until the next suitable night. Works Some pine and macrocarpa trees on the hillside above the road will be removed (see photo overleaf).  A 50-tonne crane will be on site to lift the felled trees from the hillside.  Branches and foliage will be chipped for removal.  Log wood will be loaded onto trucks and removed from site.

How will this work affect road users? For travellers on the route, the on-ramp from Johnsonville to Ngauranga Gorge and Newlands will be closed from 10pm to 5.30am each night. Travellers leaving Johnsonville will take a signposted detour via the Churton Park onramp. Traffic management personnel will be on hand to assist people who arrive at the closure. Travellers intending to go to Newlands will need to travel to the bottom of the gorge, turn round and come back up the gorge to take the northbound Newlands off ramp. How will this work affect residents? We appreciate that this type of work at night is inconvenient for residents. While we always aim to do our work with as little disturbance as possible, we realise that machinery noise at night is a hassle. However, experience shows nightwork when traffic is light enables the job to be done more quickly and efficiently. In this particular case, we cannot close the on-ramp during the day because of the volume of traffic that uses it. Wellington City Council has been notified that this work is being done. A big thank you from the Transport Agency On behalf of the Transport Agency, thank you in advance for your patience and understanding while we do this important work in your community. If you have any questions or would like to speak to someone about this project please contact Eddie Anand on (021) 923 434 or email [email protected]. If you need to talk to someone while the work is happening at night, please contact Paul Fryer from the site crew on 027 276 3934. Capital Journeys, the Opus Consultants/Fulton Hogan joint venture, is carrying out the work on behalf of the Transport Agency. 1 Regards

Mark Owen Regional Performance Manager