Part of the New Zealand roads of national significance programme, the Western Belfast Bypass project involved the construction of a new 5km, four-lane, median separated motorway to provide a direct connection between the Christchurch northern motorway and Johns Road.

This project, which brought together a range of skills and experience from throughout Fulton Hogan, established a strong team culture that contributed to the project achieving a score in the top category from our client, with particular praise around the high quality finish achieved.

Challenges included weak ground conditions, which resulted in 40% of the alignment having to be surcharged, resulting in up to 1.2 metres of settlement in places. In addition to the surcharging extensive piling through confined aquifers occurred for the three bridge structures.

As well as the motorway and bridges, a revamped entrance to a popular recreation area and a new underpass for cyclists and pedestrians were on the programme of works.

The project, which achieved 100 per cent compliance for its environmental goals as well as maintaining an excellent safety record, was completed 10 weeks early.