Port Road businesses are open

Port Road businesses are open and can still be accessed from the city end of Port Road.

​Contractors are working fast to ensure the Cobham Oval end of Port Road will be able to open by November 18, to minimise disruption for the public and businesses in the area.

“We want to get the job done quickly but we also want to see business thriving in our District, so here’s a personal plea, from me to anyone who would normally be doing business at the Cobham Oval end of Port Road; remember your favourite businesses are still open.  Just come in to them from the top end of the road, not the bottom end,” said Chairman of Council’s Infrastructure and Services Committee Greg Martin.

“We are more than half way through the Lower Hatea River Crossing project, and all the work has shifted to this side of the river.

Closing the road for three months has enabled us to save about $200,000 compared to part closing it and doing the work in pieces.

The work includes repositioning the services that run along the road, putting in new kerbing and channelling, raising the road and installing two new roundabouts, resealing it all and road marking.

“There is a fixed budget for this project so we need to make sure we closely watch the costs and seek to do things as efficiently as possible,” he said.

“The intersection will have lots of traffic flowing through it when the bridge opens in July, but we need people to remember we still have a busy little business area down there at the moment, and it needs to survive between now and 18 November when the road opens again.”