Island Cliff Road Seal Widening

Client: Waitaki District Council
Contract type: Civil roading
Capability: Earthworks, culvert upgrading, installation of subsoil drains and gabion baskets, widening and reshaping the road, and guardrail installation

This project is part of the councils seal widening projects, which targets narrow roads and looks to improve their safety by widening them up to 7 metres (3.5m lane widths). This site is a 1.2km section of Island Cliff Road in a rural area with the Alps to Ocean (A20) cycle track running adjacent to the road and the iconic limestone elephant rocks at the end of the project.

The project involves removing large trees, excavating road shoulders and banks to widen the existing road corridor, supplying and placing bulk fill rock, upgrading of culverts and installing subsoil drains, installing gabion baskets, widening and reshaping the road and the installation of guardrail. The gabion baskets are designed to stabilise the road shoulder while also creating a grade separation between motorists and the cyclist on the A20 track. Once the existing road has been widened and reshaped a guardrail will run along the edge of the road above the gabion baskets to provide further protection of the cyclists.