22:00:42 Thursday 28 August 2025

Underpass asbestos to be removed

The NZ Transport Agency says the asbestos found on the construction site of the Maungatapu underpass project in Tauranga will be removed by specialist contractors in the New Year.

The asbestos was found in a buried, demolished building that was uncovered while contractors were carrying out earthworks near the old Baden Powell Centre.

The Transport Agency's Bay of Plenty project manager John McCarthy says the team are currently working through the consents process to gain permission to remove the asbestos and expect the work to be carried out in early 2016.

He says the community will be kept up-to-date on when and how the asbestos will be removed.

In the meantime, the area is secure in line with all health and safety, environmental, legal and regulatory guidelines and there is no immediate health risk to staff or the community,” John says.

'The site will remain fenced off over Christmas and we will have regular patrols to ensure everything is secure. The public should not enter the fenced off area.

'We are focussed on keeping the community informed as they work to find the best solution and will update when more information is available.

Work on the Maungatapu underpass is progressing well despite the asbestos find, and the project remains on schedule for a 2018 finish.

'Our contractors have built a ramp over the top of the area affected by asbestos to gain access to the creek so they can start work on the Kaitemako stream diversion after Christmas,” John says.

"We are going to build a ramp over the top of the affected area next week to gain access to the creek to allow us to start sheet piling after Xmas. We will be laying down a cloth to differentiate the new material from the affected material, so that following the installation of the sheet piles the asbestos will be removed. The sheet piles are required to allow the Kaitemako stream diversion to be constructed to be able to build the new box culverts under the new alignment of the welcome bay link road."

The area surrounding the site is safe and secure however within the site fences should be considered hazardous and public should not enter the fenced off area.

'We have also started drilling and pouring the concrete piles, which will support the bridges and the sides of the underpass.”

2 comments

So what

Posted on 21-12-2015 20:47 | By The Caveman

was the drilling rig that was there for weeks looking for - oh sorry how much MUD was under the ground. Surely, somebody should have looked at the drill cores and asked the question - WHAT is this stuff. OH sorry, its not mud, dirt, soil, so we are not interested........REALLY if it was not mud, dirt, soil, WHAT IS IT???????????


This is a joke surely?

Posted on 21-12-2015 21:51 | By groutby

Will you please just get rid of this and get a move on?...there has been no movement on getting rid of this "man eating" asbestos for some time now...I thought it had been done...how many experts, time, permits does it take? not to mention the expense..the world will survive!..get real and get on with it!


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