The safety of road users is a daily concern for the transportation engineers of Resolve Group and we are always pleased to be involved in projects that contribute to improvements in safety outcomes.

For the last eight months, Resolve Group’s Hussam Rassol has been providing day-to-day Project Management services on behalf of Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency for one of the most dangerous routes in the North Island, Dome Valley. This 17km corridor of State Highway 1 between Wellsford and Warkworth is windy with poor visibility and steep slopes, and has contributed to five deaths and 25 serious injuries between 2015 and 2019.

The project began in September 2019 and is being delivered in five stages as part of the government’s Road to Zero programme. Stages Two and Four are already complete, and stages Three and Five will be completed shortly. Stage One is being re-scoped with physical works expected to start in October 2022. The work consists of:

• Installing flexible median safety barriers to prevent head-on crashes and creating a wide centreline so there’s more space between oncoming vehicles
• Installing semi-rigid W-section side barriers at location where there are safety hazards that requires protections
• Making road shoulders wider so it’s safer to pull over, if needed
• Adding two new right-turn bays to make it safer to turn
• Replacing the north- and south-bound passing lanes with a wide shoulder so slow vehicles have room to pull over

With more than 12,000 vehicles travelling this route on any given day, this is considered a critical project that will prevent, on average, at least four people from dying or receiving serious injuries each year.